An Echolls Family Truth
by LOSE IT ALL
Summary: Logan Echolls knows that his life is built on secrets and deceit. His dad would go to any length to preserve the perfect image, his mother turns to alcohol more and more, and Trina is just Trina. Starts when Logan is 12.
1. Chapter 1

An Echolls Family Truth

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Hey guys :D This is my first VM fiction, so don't laugh, haha. I hope I have all the basic stuff right. To clear it up, this starts off when Logan/Duncan/Veronica are 12, and Lilly is 13 I suppose. And they never gave an official age for Trina, did they? So let's say 5 years older, making her 17 at the start.

Logan Echolls kicked the soccer ball back to his best friend, Duncan Kane. They were playing the last soccer game of the season, unless they won this one, which would put them in the championship. With just a few minutes left, the game was tied.

"Logan, get open!" Veronica Mars yelled. The team had recently been made co-ed, which didn't bother Logan a bit, truthfully. Logan stole a glance at the clock and saw that those "few minutes " had dwindled to a "few seconds". Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father signing autographs. His heart skipped a beat. Aaron Echolls was not suppose to be there. Logan had the luck that his father had mostly been gone on movie shoots while he was playing games. Most kids would probably be mad at this, but when Aaron was watching, Logan felt much more stressed.

Aaron saw Logan and waved. "Get 'em, Logan!" He called. Logan swallowed and heard Duncan yell his name.

He tried to focus to find the ball and finally saw it, shooting towards him. He neared the ball and got ready to shoot it. He grinned knowing that he was going to be the reason that his team finally got to the championships, when he heard his father's booming laughter. For a split second he froze up, but shook it off and looked down. To his dismay, the ball was already gone. Then he heard the other team begin to scream in triumph just as the buzzer signaled the end of the game.

"Logan, are you kidding me?" Dick Casablancas screamed at him. "Good job, dude," some kid on the opposing team said, smirking at Logan as he walked by.

Logan slipped his foot out and laughed as the kid went face-first into the grass. "Good job," he sneered.

Their coach just smiled at them, trying to hide his disappointment. "This has been a great season, guys. I'm very proud of you guys. Logan, you need a ride home?"

"No, my dad said he'd take him home," Duncan said, packing his bag.

"My-" Logan started saying, then realized that he'd much rather go to the Kane household where Jake would probably feed them ice cream and they would go swimming, rather than go home with his father and get a lecture about how much he sucked. He would just tell his dad he didn't see him. "Alright, cool. Thanks Mr. Kane," Logan said, smiling at Duncan's older sister, Lilly.

"Logan, is that-" Mr. Kane started, but Logan shook his head hard. Jake got the hint and grabbed Logan and Duncan's bags. Logan, Duncan, and Lilly waved good-bye to Veronica, who's father Keith had just jogged up next to her. Keith Mars and Jake Kane eyed each other, muttering icy greetings.

"Logan! Logan!" Logan faintly heard Aaron call. He started coughing to drown at the sound so the Kanes wouldn't hear.

Everyone climbed into Jake's Wrangler, laughing and talking, the lost championship already forgotten. Logan nervously looked in through the back window and saw his father glaring at him, singing autographs at the same time.

Logan knew that the one thing that set his father off was embarassing him. Not the soccer game, no, that was just a screw-up. But Aaron Echolls hated his son doing something like ignoring him in front of adoring fans or media.

Logan also knew that he would more than likely pay for it the next time he went home.


	2. Chapter 2

An Echolls Family Truth

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review.

Four hours of swimming, snacks, and Lilly's taunting Celeste later, Trina unexpectantly showed up to bring Logan home. "What are you doing here?" Logan demanded, drying off.

"Dad told me to pick you up. And dry off good, I don't want you wetting my car," she replied, smiling awkwardly at Jake and Celeste Kane. Ever since Trina had gotten her license the year before, she had become even more snotty towards Logan. And it didn't help that all's she had to do was cry a little and Aaron was more than willing to buy her an even nicer care.

"Oh, dear brother of mine, daddy is just not very happy with you," she laughed.

"I didn't even do anything," Logan said simply, shrugging as they backed out of the Kane drive way.

"You know how he is when we're in public view, Logan."

"I don't know what I did!"

Trina laughed and turned on her radio. "You never learn."

Logan knew what she was referencing. The first time he had become aware of just how much Aaron depended on the public's opinion on the Echolls family, he was just four years old. The family was on the red carpet. Trina, at nine-years-old, had already been trained about how to act in front of the media. She graciously waved to Aaron's adoring fans, posed for pictures with the family or by herself, and acted cute for the reporters. Logan on the other hand, was itchy in his white tuxedo and his hair was already brimming with sweat from the bright lights. So he had done what any four-year-old child would do, and started whining, and tugging on Lynn's dress. "Logan, this dress costs more than all the toys in your room, keep your hands off," Lynn had snapped. Logan continued pouting, not smiling for pictures that would grace the cover of PEOPLE magazine. And although Aaron had simply laughed and smiled at Logan, calling him an "anxious little tiger" for someone from Entertainment Tonight, that night Logan received his punishment. Which included having his face shoved into the wall and being forced to stand in the corner throughout the night.

And eight years later, Logan had still not learned. Or rather, it was something that he knew angered his father and was therefore the only way he could get back at his father for being an ignorant jackass. Just a month ago, Logan had arrived at the movie set for Aaron's latest "crapfest", purposely dressed in the dirtiest clothes the maid had missed under his bed. Logan knew that his dad had an important interview, and had requested for his family to "surprise him" to show "the Echolls determination". Logan had convinced his mom that Jake planned on taking him home to change before arriving at the set. Logan loved the look on Aaron's face of rage when he arrived when torn jeans and stained t-shirt.

The ride home was tense for Logan, wandering just how mad his father was. He could be just agitated, which would bring some private screaming time and a face-slap or two. But if it was a bad day or he had gotten a bad review, the screaming could turn to Aaron pointing to the "belt showcase" in disgust, which was a sign for Logan to go pick out the belt that he felt appropriate for the situation.

They pulled up to their house and Logan tentatively got out of Trina's "baby". "Hurry up, I have to put the hood on," she snapped.

Logan went inside, stopping to mumble a "Hello" to Ms. Navarro, one of the maids. He peered hesitantly around the rooms before trying to make a break up the never-ending stair case to his room.

"Logan! Get down here!" He heard his dad yell.

He swallowed and headed back downstairs. "Yes, sir?"

"Follow me please, Logan," Aaron said, a little nicer, as Ms. Navarro side-stepped the pair, carrying some laundry. Aaron knew how to handle their little chats, and they were never to be carried out around the help.

Aaron led Logan to his office, which was decorated with posters of himself. Logan hated that room, not only for the events that happened in there, but also because when his friends came over, they gave him odd looks, as in "is your father really THAT vain?"

"Look, dad, I'm sorry I messed up-" Logan tried to start.

"This isn't about the game. Your team mates will give you enough crap about that. I cannot believe that you so blatantly ignored me after the game, with all those parents around and their kids running up to them. And you walked away!"

"Dad, don't you mean you can't believe that I messed up your opportunity for the photographer to get a picture of us hugging and you telling me what a swell champ I am?" Logan snapped back angrily.

"Don't you talk to me like that," Aaron growled, his eyes narrowed, and Logan knew that he had crossed the line.

"I'm not going to say anything other than, so help you God if anyone picks up on your behavior tomorrow. Got me?"

"Oh but dad, it's been a really long time since we've been on the cover! Maybe I should've been a bit more-" Logan started, but Aaron slapped him before could finish. He grabbed the back of Logan's neck and directed him out the door.

"You better remember my warning, you ungrateful brat."


	3. Chapter 3

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 3

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review.

The day after the soccer game incident was a Monday, which meant another day at Neptune Middle School. Logan had only been going there for a few months, but he liked it okay. Aaron and Lynn had owned their home for over ten years, but had decided to live in their home in Los Angeles instead. Lynn had finally told Aaron that she wanted to get away from the violence, which was really code for "there aren't enough rich white kids in this area, let's go back to Neptune!"

When Trina was driving Logan to school, she asked him why he tried to irk Aaron so badly.

"I don't. And you know it," he said angrily.

"You're such an ungrateful brat, you know that? Dad does everything for us and you always just want to play the part of the spurned youngest son."

"I'm an ungrateful brat? You threw a fit because you didn't get the car you wanted."

"Um, hi, that's different," she said haughtily, "that's transportation. You whine because daddy doesn't give you the clothes you want or Lynn makes you buy the nice shoes instead of the nasty skater shoes."

"Dad wanted me to get-"

"Logan, shut up," Trina interrupted, rolling her eyes. "And grow up."

"You know what dad does," Logan answered quietly. "You know it's wrong."

"What are you talking about now?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I've seen you stick your head in the door after he's hit me or something."

"Oh my god! Give the baby an Emmy, such the drama queen. Dad doesn't hit you except when you deserve it. And get a clue, Logan, calling your mother a bitch qualifies you."

"I never called her a bitch! You just want to ignore it so you can keep being daddy's little princess!" Logan screamed at her. They had arrived at the middle school and he stepped out of her car.

"You better find a ride home, by the way," Trina snapped, speeding off.

Logan stormed into the school, knocking into Cyndi Mackenzie in the process. "Hey, watch it," she snapped, bending over to pick up her back pack.

"Shut up, ghost girl," Logan sneered, taking the opportunity to kick her math book across the hall.

It was truly a miracle that Logan Echolls, Duncan Kane, and Veronica Mars had all seven periods at Neptune together. Well, it was a miracle and some clever twinking by Aaron and Jake.

Mr. Smith, their first period pre-algebra teacher, sat his class alphabetically. Logan, Duncan and Veronica were pretty far spread apart. But Dick Casablancas was just one seat to Logan's left.

"Okay, class, pass up your homework," Mr. Smith said, sounding bored already. His first period was his notorious "slacker class", and Mondays were even worse.

About half the class began rummaging through papers as Mr. Smith turned to Logan.

"I trust you did your homework, Mr. Echolls?"

"See…What had happened, was that-"

"I don't want to hear it. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to see you after class."

"Well, as much as I enjoy our little chats, I have things to see and people to do."

Dick leaned over. "Don't you mean things to do and people to see?"

"I said what I said."

"Logan, Dick, cut it out.

After a thrilling lesson on multiplying binomials, Logan waited until the class had filtered out before approaching Mr. Smith's desk.

"Look, I'll start doing my homework."

"That's not going to cut it, Logan. You've said the same thing every time I call you up here. Being the son of Aaron Echolls isn't going to carry you through life."

Logan's face grew red. It bugged him when anyone brought his father into conversations. "I don't think that. And it's none of your business how I think anyway."

"Your attitude seems to support my opinion, Mr. Echolls. I think this time I'm just going to have to call your father. It's time for us to meet face to face."

"What? I can get his autograph for you if that's what you really want," Logan snapped, grabbing his books and stomping out of the class. "Have fun getting a hold of him, by the way."

At the end of the day, Logan asked Duncan if his dad could give him a ride home. Jake didn't mind, and after he dropped him off at his house, Logan quietly entered the home, noting that his mother's car was gone.

"Dad?"

"In here," Aaron called from the kitchen. Logan walked in and could see him pouring a shot of vodka.

"I got a call from your school today. Seems a Mr. Smith wants to talk to me?"

"Um, yeah."

"What about that, Logan?"

"Nothing, dad, just some normal stuff. You know."

"No I don't know. You never talk to me." Oh, great, Logan though. When his dad had been drinking, he got into this 'woe is me' mood.

"I talk to you plenty. We just talked yesterday, remember?"

"Trina called earlier and said that you upset her really bad. Said something like you think I treat you bad."

That bitch!

"No, I never-"

Suddenly, Aaron was up in Logan's face. "You just remember this. I control you. I control this family. I don't hurt you, and you know it, don't you? Don't you?" He screamed, grabbing Logan's chin and shoving their faces about a centimeter a part.

"Yes!" Logan yelped, trying to pull away. Aaron shoved his face down onto the counter.

"I do everything for you. For you and Trina, for your mother, and I always get the same bullshit. You never bring your friends here. Why? I buy everything a kid could ever want and my own son never brings his friends around. No, you'd rather be off at the Kane house, swimming with Duncan the perfect and Lilly the bitch, and with that tramp Veronica…"

Logan knew that he shouldn't open his mouth, when his dad was rambling. He was probably safer when his dad was just ranting about nothing, but he did it anyway.

He pushed his father away. "Don't talk about her like that!"

"Aw, who? WHO?"

Logan didn't even know who. It was Veronica's name that had set him off, but everyone knew that him and Lilly were always flirting.

"Don't talk about my friends like that."

Aaron just laughed and reached for Logan, but Logan side stepped him and because he was tipsy, Aaron flailed forward, catching himself on a chair.

"Fucking brat," Aaron gasped, lunging for Logan. This time Logan wasn't so lucky, and Aaron grabbed the front collar of his shirt and shoved him down.

Aaron wasn't so lucky either though, and Logan's head collided with the side of the table, and he slunk down to the floor.

So what did you think? I really like the idea of this story so I'm trying to develop the characters a little more before I start proceeding. Soon I'm going to age them, probably first at 14 or something.


	4. Chapter 4

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 4

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review.

The next thing Logan remembered was waking up in Aaron's private doctor's office. Dr. Morris had been taking care of both Trina and Logan since they were babies, and had no suspicions on Logan's sometimes mysterious injuries, such as the broken nose from his 10th birthday party ("Oh you know Logan, he's so clumsy! He was playing too roughly with a friend or something…"), or the broken arm ("I've been telling Lynn we should cut down that tree, and now this happens!"), or when he discovered scattered cigarette burns over Logan's shoulders, and his back ("When we lived in Bermuda for a few months, he met a couple of kids who turned out to be bad…Very bad. I even turned down a movie role just so we could leave there!")

"Look who's finally awake!" Dr. Morris exclaimed, rising from his desk where he had been talking with Aaron.

Logan realized that he was in Dr. Morris' office, and was laying down on the examining table. He didn't know why he was there, but he did know that his head hurt like hell. "What happened?" He asked, trying to rise up too fast. Doing so caused him to get dizzy for a split second, so he laid back down and looked at Dr Morris and his dad for answers.

"Logan, don't you remember?" Aaron faked concern, walking over to his son and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You were roller blading in the house, getting ready to get outside. Ms. Navarro told you to go outside, but you skated to the kitchen anyway. I guess she had just mopped, because you must have hit a slick spot and you hit your head on the counter," he explained, tightening his grip on Logan's shoulder.

Logan looked into his dad's eyes and saw a combination of anger, authority, and a little bit of fear. This was the best time for Logan, at the doctor's office. Whenever these little "incidents" occurred, Logan knew that he had his father wrapped around his finger.

"No dad, I'm not sure I remember it that way," he said innocently.

Aaron's grip tightened so quickly and fiercely that Logan sucked in a breath.

"What are you talking about Logan?" Dr. Morris questioned at the same time Aaron chuckled nervously.

"I don't know, ask my dad. He seems to have all the answers."

"Logan, Dr. Morris needs to hear it from you, buddy, you know that."

"Yeah. This is getting to be routine, huh? But dad's wrong. I wasn't roller blading. I was skateboarding. Remember, my roller blades mysteriously disappeared."

Aaron swallowed and released his grip on Logan, letting out a tiny breath of relief.

"Well Logan, you're lucky that your dad was there to bring you here quickly. It's not too bad, I just used a couple of butterfly stitches to close it up to be on the safe side. It's going to be a little bruised though. I'm not going to give you any medicine, regular tylenol should do the trick if your head starts to hurt."

Dr. Morris waited for a sign that Logan had listened, and although he really hadn't, Logan nodded and slowly climbed down from the paper-covered table.

When they had gotten in Aaron's car, both were silent.

"Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You know I love you."

"You have a funny way of showing it," Logan muttered, running his fingers over his swollen head.

"You know I wouldn't hurt you like that on purpose! Look, let's not argue…I have a meeting with your teacher tomorrow. Your mother, too. First thing in the morning, you get to ride in style!"

"No autographs."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean every time you come to my school so you can hear about how much I suck, the entire time before the meeting you put on a huge show, autographs, pictures, questions. It gets old. And I'm sick of getting crap for it."

"You should be proud of who you are!" Aaron said, grinning widely. "You're AARON ECHOLLS' SON! How many kids would die to say that?"

Logan looked at him, his face contorted, but he didn't know why. Confusion? Anger? Pain? "I can think of one, dad. The one you don't give a damn about."

That night, Aaron took Trina to visit some good friends of his. "Why can't I go?" Logan had asked. He actually liked these people-they had a son his age and although his parents were in the entertainment business, he wasn't snobby at all. Aaron had just shaken his head at Logan's question and left, with a smirking Trina behind him.

It was too late for Logan to go get Duncan or Dick, and the pool was to be cleaned the next morning which meant that it was probably to dirty to bother with.

Logan wandered around aimlessly, before seeing Lynn in Aaron's office, sipping on a glass of vodka and looking around.

"Mom? Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Logan said as his mom jumped a little.

"Oh, hey, Logan. How's my baby?" She slurred, already gone for the night.

"I'm okay. Mom…Can I ask you a question?" Logan stepped closer to Aaron's desk, rubbing his hands lightly over the polished wood. The desk had cost over a thousand dollars because of the material it was made out of, and Aaron hardly used it.

When Lynn didn't object to Logan's request, he went on.

"Don't you ever think of…just, you know, leaving?" He asked, trying to look her straight in the eyes. But that was a hard feat when Lynn was sober, let alone when she was sloshed.

"What? Logan, no, shut up. We have everything, and you ask a question like tht. You know, I just don't get you, your father-"

"Mom! If everything's so perfect why do you have to drink everyday?" He pleaded, his eyes scanning her reddened face.

Lynn just shook her head. "Impossible…You are impossible…I just, don't understand…Dad gives you everything you want, your father buys you everything and you bring stuff like this up."

She was just rambling.

"Damnit, shut up!" Logan screamed angrily. "Nothing's perfect in this house, I hate it here. Me and you, mom, we could go. I know you're not happy here, I hear you crying sometimes-"

Lynn straightened. "Stop. Now. Good night, Logan." She stumbled her way out of the office.

Logan stomped in frustration. He didn't understand his mom, or his sister, or his father…Nothing made sense.

Yeah hope you guys like it, thanks for the reviews. I'm trying to capture Lynn and Trina's relationships w/ Logan but unfortunately, especially Lynn, there was never any insight…


	5. Chapter 5

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 5

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review.

The next day, after school, Logan was heading to meet Duncan at the front of the school. Jake Kane was going to drop the pair off at the Casablancas' home. Logan was just passing the front office when he saw Aaron talking to the secretaries. Both of their body languages obviously screamed "FLIRT" to Logan, but he was too use to it to care, and quickened his pace.

"Logan! There's my boy!" Aaron's boisterous voice boomed from the office.

Logan decided not to make the mistake of "not hearing" him again, and turned around, flashing the fake smile he had been trained to give.

"Hey dad…I didn't know you were going to be here. Jake said he can take me to Dick's house."

"Oh, I can take you. And Duncan, if he'd like. No point in wasting gas, right? I have a meeting with that teacher of yours…Mr…Mr…"

"Mr. Smith. Um, I'll go ask Jake and Duncan." Logan walked outside and found Duncan.

"Hey, man, what took you so long?" Duncan asked, waving him to hurry to get into his dad's mustang.

"Eh, my dad's here. Mr. Smith called him yesterday. Swell guy, isn't he?" Logan said with mock giddiness, running his hands through his hair. "So we have a parent-teacher conference, which will most likely go something like this: 'Well hi there, Mr. Echolls!' 'Hi, you must be the famous Mr. Smith…Logan sure does talk about your class a lot, he loves it!" 'Oh really! That's cool! So how have you been!' Etc. So I can't go right now, but my dad said he doesn't mind you waiting and he'll just take us over to Dick's house."

"Dick kind of wanted me to go there right away, why don't I meet you?"

Logan thought quickly. If Mr. Smith brought up him never doing his homework, then Aaron would realize that Logan had been lying to him. If Duncan was around, Aaron might chastise him to appear like a good parent, but there wouldn't be any yelling, and by the time Logan got home, he would more than likely had gone out by then.

"Dude, you don't understand, my dad's gonna be pissed, if you're there he'll postpone the grounding, haha," Logan said nonchalantly, subconsciously rubbing his sore wound again.

"Aw okay, let me ask my dad," Duncan said and walked to Jake. It only took a couple of seconds and Duncan came back and agreed.

Mr. Smith made Duncan stay out in the hallway as he instructed Logan to sit and "not back talk".

"Hi there, Mr. Echolls! How are you?" Mr. Smith asked, a little bit to ecstatically.

"Hi, you must be the FAMOUS Mr. Smith. Logan never stops talking about how great your class is…"

Logan groaned and dropped his head onto the desk with a loud thump.

(((((((((

An hour later, Aaron dropped the boys off at the Casablancas home. "…But Logan, I'm very proud of you son. Just do better," Aaron finished his long-winded speech about responsibility. Logan hoisted his backpack and just gave him a blank look. "Is this when I thank you for putting on your little show? It was emmy worthy this time dad, don't worry," he muttered just loud enough for Aaron to barely hear.

Aaron put on his sunglasses and winked. Duncan started walking off to find Dick and Beaver, so Aaron took that opportunity to enforce one of his rules. "And don't call me to pick you up."

Every once in awhile, Aaron had to appear like he was doing something to aid in the Kane-Echolls relationship. Most of the time, the catering around Neptune was done by Jake or Celeste Kane. So on days like today when Aaron had an audience, he took the opportunity to rescue Jake Kane from the daunting task of driving 5 miles away to the Casablancas home. He was home-free for another month or so of parental driving duties.

Logan ran to catch up with Duncan.

"Your dad didn't even ground you!" Duncan groaned, "and now I missed seeing Big Dick's new girlfriend!"

"Well you know dad, always looking out for me. I guess you haven't seen that one movie where he's the father of the year, huh? Thirty million, three stars by his good friend Roger Ebert and 'crapfest' by the neutral party. Well, don't worry, I haven't seen it either, I just like laughing at his reviews. Anyway, I did happen to catch that little speech at the premier, just after my five-minute power nap and just before my hour and a half sleep. Hey look, it's a wet beaver!" Logan said dramatically, clenching his shirt as he spoke of the movie.

Beaver pulled himself out of the pool and Duncan and Logan noticed that the latest Casablancas girl was just diving off the board. Apparently, so did Beaver.

"Hey, guys," he said quietly. "Dick is in the house making-"

"He's jacking off, Beav, just admit it. You need to 'make' something, too, by the way," Logan laughed, nudging Duncan and pointing at Beaver's waist. He clearly had a boner.

Beaver turned beet-red. "I have little league. Bye," he mumbled and ran into the house.

"That wasn't cool, Logan, you know how he is," Duncan shoved him a little, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, geez, shut the hell up. He's fine, Beaver knows we're just playing."

Duncan gave him a weird look.

"Do you even know what his real name is anymore?"

Logan shrugged. "Dude, this is so fucking awesome," he said, grinning ear-to-ear as the lady did backstrokes.

"I'd show her how a real backstroke goes, whooo," Logan said, laughing. Even Duncan started laughing.

"Oh, you met the witch. I mean, dad's girlfriend. Kendall."

"She's so hot, Dick. If they married, that'd be some hot shit to tap," Logan said, shaking his head.

"Shut up, she IS gonna be my stepmom. That's sick," Dick said laughing. He shoved Logan into the pool then jumped in, too.

"Come on, Duncan. It's nice and WET!"

Duncan just shook his head and took off his shirt. He happened to glance up at the house and saw Beaver watching them through a window, gazing with a blank stare, thumping his head on the window. Truthfully, the kid gave Duncan the creeps. Duncan shivered and jumped into the pool.


	6. Chapter 6

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 5

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review.

The next couple of weeks passed without incident. In mid-May, with just a couple weeks left of school, Aaron and Lynn had to leave to work on a movie. Usually they assigned a maid to strictly watch Logan and Trina, however Aaron decided that both were old enough to be okay by themselves.

On Friday night, Logan was playing Play-Station in the living room. His parents hated it when he did, because it made so much noise, so he took advantage of them not being home and was lounging around in his underwear.

He heard his cell phone ringing but didn't want to be bothered to answer it. Whoever it was persisted and he reached over and answered it, "What!"

"Logan…It's…-chell. I'm at Mike's house. ….Trina…passed out…Don't want…advantage…get her," It was Michelle Ahn, the daughter of Aaron's assistant. Her and Trina were good friends. There was so much noise in the background that he could only hear half of what she was saying.

"Hey, I can't hear you Michelle, what's wrong with Trina?"

Suddenly it got a lot quieter. "Mike and Trina broke up. Trina passed out upstairs, I think she's drunk or someone put something in one of her drinks. You need to get someone to come get her, I don't want anything to happen."

"Michelle, I'm 12, and no one else is here. Why can't you or somebody else do it?"

"Because I wrecked my car and my daddy won't get me another one for another couple of months, because he's an asshole-"

"That's was your fourth car. And you're 17."

"Shut the hell up. Anyway, and everyone is drunk, and I want to party, not watch over your dumbass sister!"

"And I thought you guys were friends."

"You are so fucking annoying. Can you do it?"

"MICHELLE, I DON'T-"

"Oops, gotta go, better come get her because I'm leaving."

Logan threw the phone down in frustration. He couldn't believe that Michelle would do that, but then again, he could. This was the girl who had purposely wrecked her first car because it was a 1998 mustang instead of a 2001 mustang.

He went out and got the golf cart that his father had bought. He knew that using it without his father's permission could be bad, but he also knew that he'd probably hurt Logan a lot more if he found out that he let his baby be in a dangerous situation.

He rode it the two miles to Mike's house. Trina and Mike had been going out on and off for a year now, and although they were usually "off", both were the insanely jealous type.

An hour later after filtering through dozens of drunk and stoned high-schoolers, Logan made his way upstairs. He almost gagged from the combination of weed and various other smells, such as puke that he stepped it. He saw Mike and went up to him. "Hey where the hell is my sister?" Logan demanded.

"I don't fucking know. The bitch went psycho on me and-" Mike stopped as Logan, barely reaching Mike's shoulder, shoved him into the wall. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" Mike yelled, grabbing Logan at the collar.

"Don't call my sister a bitch," Logan yelled back, trying to hide the fact that he was terrified. He tried to push Mike away, but it didn't work.

"Your sister doesn't even like you, dude," Mike laughed.

"Let go of me, or I will fucking kill you," Logan said through gritted teeth, kicking Mike's knee. Mike let go of him, grimacing.

"Fucker…"

Logan took the opportunity to duck under a group of Mike's friends and noticed that there was only one room that had an open door. He peeked in and saw Trina laying on the bed, on her stomach, with her face shoved into a pillow. He tried to shake her, but it wouldn't work.

When he had dragged her downstairs and out the door, he realized that the golf cart wasn't where he left it. "FUCK," he yelled out loud, his heart pounding. 'I'm going to be killed, shit…'

Then he saw that Michelle was driving it around Mike's house, laughing her ass off, with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the hand that was steering it.

She saw him and waved, pulling it up next to him. "Hey, how are yooou cutie?" She slurred, spilling beer on him. "Get the fuck out of it and help me put her in there," Logan demanded.

Michelle wasn't much hope but a guy that might have been the only sober one at the house, happened to walk by and help Logan lift Trina into the passenger seat. In response, she breathed a spit bubble.

The next morning, Logan woke up and went downstairs. As he was eating, Trina stumbled down the long stairwell.

He looked up and bit back a grin. Trina, who usually tried to dress and look perfect in case it was time for her shining moment to come, was a mess. Her hair was sticking up in unnatural angles, her make-up was smeared, and she still smelled of smoke and alcohol.

"How are you feeling?" Logan asked, laughing inside.

"Just fucking dandy, not that it's anything to you," Trina snapped.

"What's that suppose to mean?" He asked angrily, shaking his head.

"Nothing. You better not tell mom or dad about any of this," she threatened, walking out.

He looked back at her increduously.

"Trina…I brought you back," he said softly in case she didn't know.

"I know that. Do you want a cookie?"


	7. Chapter 7

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 7

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review. Haha this is gonna be soo long the story as a whole. Oh well!

The next day, Sunday, Aaron and Lynn came home. Aaron gave Trina a hug and Lynn headed straight for the alcohol.

"Did Logan behave himself?" Aaron asked Trina, rubbing Logan's head.

"Oh that's a nice fatherly gesture, Logan. And to think you say daddy is so mean," Trina said, over-exaggerating her facial expressions, "he was fine, dad."

Aaron tightened his grip on Logan's neck. "We have a premier tonight. We're leaving in an hour. Logan go start getting ready. I'm going to pick my tux and their dresses."

Logan twisted himself out of his dad's grip. "Yes, sir," he answered bitterly. He hated premiers. Screaming idiots went out of their way to take pictures of the Echolls family. Various magazines asked him how much he loved being the son of the Sexiest Man Alive.

Aaron followed Logan into the bathroom. "Uh, dad? I think I got it from here," Logan said, motioning towards the bathroom door.

Aaron closed the door. "Do-not-embarrass-this-family-tonight," he said through gritted teeth. "Remember last time?"

'Sure dad. I remember. We got home and you popped my shoulder out of the socket and beat me with a belt,' Logan thought.

He gave his father a blank stare.

"Imagine headline: 'Sexiest Man Alive's Son Trips Sister on Red Carpet.' Don't let that happen again."

After Aaron left, Logan felt his heard eating. That incident had prevented him from going to school for a week. His teacher called, concerned about Logan's frequent absences, and oblivious as to whom Aaron Echolls was. When Logan finally went back to school the teacher said that he could feel free to talk to him about the emotional problems that Aaron had detailed in a sad voice. Logan had been torn up over the death of a pet. Doesn't take stress well.

Logan went back into his room and opened his closet. He pushed past his dozens of Abercrombie, Hollister and other clothes. His "daddy dearest" outfits hung in the very back on wire hangers that had a paper covering that spelled out "WE 3 OUR CUSTOMERS". He picked out a white tuxedo and slowly dressed. On his neck was a faint, thumb-sized bruise. He ducked back into his closet and started rummaging through some storage shelves that Aaron had ordered. Under a drawer marked "old papers", Logan had hidden powdered concealer that he had stolen from Trina. He carefully applied just enough of the powder to make the bruise invisible.

In the limo on the way to Aaron's latest crapfest-"In this one, Trina and Logan, I am a cop desperately trying to find a male stripper with a grudge-" the feeling was a little tense.

"Remember what I said, Logan," Aaron warned.

"Sure thing, dad."

"Oh, daddy! I really want to be an actress. This is so exciting!' Trina gushed, smoothing her dress. Logan rolled her eyes. She acted like this every time, despite the fact that in the master suite of the Echolls home, there was a large picture of Trina toddling on the red carpet, barely three-years-old.

"No, Trina. We've already talked about this!" Lynn snapped, sipping on champagne.

"Excuse me, Lynn, but I would like to answer my daughter's question," Aaron said, glaring at her. Lynn lowered her eyes, catching Logan's eyes for a second.

"Hey, mom is Trina's mom, she can-" Logan started angrily.

"Shut up," Aaron told him, turning back to Trina. "Honey, I'm looking into roles for you. I want you to get a good one, not some cheesy stereotypical role."

"Because your movies aren't cheesy," Logan snickered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, dad."

"We're here," Lynn said excitedly, reaching to take Aaron's hand.

Aaron and Lynn got out, grinning and looking at each other lovingly for the cameras. Trina then got out and just as Logan went to step out she sneaklily shoved the door closed right on Logan's knee.

"You bitch!" Logan cried, grabbing his knee. He looked up and saw Aaron glaring at him.

The family slowly walked down the red carpet. Aaron alternated between linking arms with Lynn and putting an arm around Logan or Trina. In Touch Magazine snapped a picture of Trina with an arm around Logan as Aaron and Lynn shuffled behind them.

"Is that the one going to grandma?" Logan asked out of the side of his mouth, still grinning widely for the cameras.

Just as Aaron was going to answer, a reporter called the family over. Aaron acknowledged the man with a wave and they walked over. Then a woman called over Lynn, so Trina huffed and stalked over to the woman with Lynn.

"So Aaron, who would this be?" The man, who's press badge read "CARL PARKER", asked, flipping open a small pad of paper.

"This is my son, Logan. He's 12, and he goes to Neptune Middle. My pride and joy," Aaron said, ruffling through Logan's hair, as best he could with how short it was.

"So Logan, how does it feel to be the Sexiest Man Alive's son?"

&& $$ &&

It was nearly two AM when they got back to their home. Aaron was on a high, thrilled by the "amaaaazing" feedback he heard. Logan had fallen asleep during the movie, just about the point where Aaron had discovered that the male stripper had indeed been at the party when his rival had disappeared.

"I cannot believe you fell asleep!" Trina said, shaking her head. "Daddy, that movie was great!"

"Thanks, Trina," Logan mumbled, looking up at his dad. "I didn't mean to fall asleep, dad. It was…uh, interesting, really, it's just that I'm tired."

Aaron stared at his son. "Are you well rested now?"

"What? Not…not really," Logan said, wondering where this was going to go.

"That's to bad," Aaron said softly, "because you're not going to sleep for the rest of the night."

"Dad, it's a school night-it's two AM, I can still get five or six hours in, I only fell asleep for an hour at the movie!" Logan protested, his brain fuzzy from how tired he was.

"You embarrassed me. Again. I don't ask for much from you, but you continually disappoint me. How do you think it looks if my own son falls asleep for my movie? Bad."

"How will you know I stayed awake?" Logan challenged, glaring back at his father.

"I won't be going to sleep anytime soon," Aaron said, winking, as he popped some type of pill. "Not Trina, Lynn, go ahead to bed. Lynn I'll be up in a minute to change."

After they had gone upstairs, Aaron grabbed Logan's arm and jerked him over to a corner. "Stand here. Do not move. Do not lean against the wall. And don't let me find that you've fallen asleep."

Logan swallowed as his dad walked upstairs.

"Aaron, this is a bit extreme don't you think? He has school tomorrow. Don't do this," he heard his mom timidly ask Aaron. He listened intently. Lynn was usually to drunk to try to defend Logan, but sometimes when she did, Aaron relented a bit. Logan knew that Aaron was furious though. When he acted calm, that could mean the worst.

"It's not extreme. He embarrassed me. It's time for him to learn that he can't do whatever he wants."

"He needs sleep! It's already 2 AM! He's been good lately-don't walk away, send him to bed!" Lynn yelled at him and Logan flinched when he heard a door slam and his dad's menacing voice.

"Shut up. You're whining. I do the disclepline around here. If it were up to you, he'd be running around with no self control. Can you even call yourself a parent? All's you do is drink. Pathetic. Without me, you'd be nothing. Remember that."

"I try to say something, and you always interrupt me! How can I parent them if you won't let me?"

Aaron laughed. "Pathetic."

He walked back downstairs. "Stand up straight, Logan," he demanded.


	8. Chapter 8

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 8

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: Enjoy. Remember to review. Haha this is gonna be soo long the story as a whole. Oh well!

August 14-first day of 8th grade.

"Eighth grade baby," Duncan said. "And dad only hate to donate a couple grand to the Neptune Library to get us all in the same classes again. He says this is the last year."

"Mm, next year my dad will have to donate a poster or something for their charity auction," Logan said as they both laughed. "It's amazing how lame our school is."

"Hey, boys, how are you?" Logan and Duncan heard the booming voice of Mr. Casablancas. They turned around and saw him leading Dick while Beaver trailed pathetically.

"Hey Mr. Casablancas. Little Dick. Swell to see you," Logan said, waving.

"I've got to go take care of something with Cassidy. You boys enjoy the day. Come on," Mr. Casablancas said, pulling a miserable Beaver along with him.

"What's up with your brother?" Duncan asked.

"Um, dad's trying to get him involved in football or something," Dick answered. "Who's our homeroom teacher?"

"Ms. Dade. Beaver wouldn't survive a day in football, what happened to little league?"

"Dude, I know nothing about little Beaver. He said he doesn't want to go anymore."

&& & $ # & $ $ & (

At the end of the week, Logan and Duncan burst through the doors of Neptune Middle. "That was the worst week of school, ever," Logan groaned.

"Who knew such a hot bitch could be such a …bitch?" Dick asked incredulously, waving at his father.

"Wait, Dick, my parents are leaving tonight until this weekend, and Lily is being civil and said I could bring a few friends. She's throwing a party. Wanna come?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah, dude, I'll be there at eight."

"You, too, Logan," Duncan said after Dick had left.

"I don't know. My dad's going to be here tonight and he was in a bad mood this morning."

"Logan, this won't be any normal party. Lily and her friend Megan are going to be there. Megan Powers."

"Should this be familiar to me?"

"You know Mike Hightower?"

"Yeah…He's such a pot-Oooh! Yeah, I think I can make it," Logan said excitedly.

"Wait, Logan, we're not doing that crap. I was just telling you because she's hot-"

"Duncan, Duncan, Duncan, so sweet yet so…Fucking lame. Well there's my lovely sister, bye."

"Hey brat," Trina said once Logan had gotten into the car. "This is a warning. Dad is pissed. Not at you, he probably got a bad review or something. You know how he gets. Don't cross his path. Oh yeah, I'm going to a party tonight, so listen out for your phone ringing."

"Ha, no. I'm going to Duncan's house tonight," Logan said, sneering.

"Doubt it."

They got to the house and Trina started speaking loudly once they got into

"Logan, I can't believe that you got another zero! You've been in school five days and you're failing eight grade math! You're sooo pathetic!" She practically yelled.

Logan shot her a bewildered look. "What the hell are you doing? Shut up!"

"Logan? Is that true?" Aaron asked, stepping in from his office.

"Dad, I don't know what she's talking about."

"Logan, don't lie to daddy. I've gotta go, dad. I'm going to study at Beth's tonight. Love you!" Trina said chirpily, winking at Logan as she walked out the door.

"You know, if you fail a grade, that would humiliate me," Aaron said, rubbing his temples.

"Dad, she's lying, I haven't even had any homework!"

"Correction: You haven't even done any homework. Now shut up. You WILL study all night tonight. In your room. I will take your phone. No TV. Understand?"

Logan glared back at him. "I don't have any books with me," he mumbled, slapping his phone into his dad's hand.

"Looks like you'll be studying using Trina's books," Aaron said, thrusting the bright pink backpack into Logan's hands, apparently not noting that Trina had been going to study at Beth's.

Logan stomped up the stairs and flung the backpack onto his bed. He began pacing.

'He's such a fucking asshole. I hate him. I hate Trina. She always does this,' he thought angrily, punching his bedpost. This was the 2nd or 3rd time she had done this.

And Aaron's punishments…Logan knew that being banished to your room to study was probably worse than getting beaten, but usually if he was beaten, the pain was over after an hour or so. He'd be stuck in this room until the next morning.

By far the worst punishment had become one of Aaron's favorites. Making Logan stay up all night, standing up, not leaning against anything. That first time, a few months ago, Logan's legs had almost given out. Tell him to run a mile, and he could do it, but that night he had been exhausted. When Aaron had given him permission to use the bathroom, Logan had gone in and sat down and managed to sleep for ten minutes before Aaron started pounding on the door. The next day at school, Logan had slept the entire day. Well, the entire day up until fifth period, when the teacher had written him up for 'detrimental to learning'. His dad had not been happy that day, even as Lynn yelled at him that it was his fault.

Once Aaron figured out how effective that punishment had been, he had began to use it frequently. He had done it about a dozen times over the summer. Logan, however, had figured out a way to outsmart his dad, who, after 4 or 5 hours of staring at Logan, usually drifted off or "went to the bathroom". Logan had perfected the art of sleeping with his eyes opened.

Logan sat down at his computer and logged on AIM.

LOGANisRLYHOT: hey dude

Donut2006: hey, when r u comin

LOGANisRLYHOT: umm problem…trina lied to my dad bout somethin…so I have to stay in my room

Donut2006: aw that sucks, she's bringing a bunch of friends and megan is bringin beer and stuff

LOGANisRLYHOT: FUCK. I'll b there…in 10 mins

Donut2006: how?

LOGANisRLYHOT: I've got my ways…aka window hopping

Donut2006: aka the way you broke your wrist last year?

LOGANisRLYHOT: uh ya somethin like that

Logan signed off and thought for a minute.

"Dad!" He yelled from his door.

"WHAT?" Aaron yelled back irritably.

"Um, Shawn, that kid that was on that movie with you, he-his dad…His dad wants me to come over to see if he thought Trina would be interested in any of the scripts he's received lately," Logan called back, knowing that if he sounded like he was doing good for the 'family business', his dad would be happier.

"I didn't hear the phone ring."

"No, it was over the computer. I had to get on to find the practice test website."

"Oh. Fine."

Logan couldn't believe his luck. At first he was a little surprised as he stared at his father over the banister.

"Get a fucking move on, Logan. It's getting dark, you don't need to be walking out at night."

"Oh-uh, right. Thanks, bye dad," Logan said and ran out the door before he could change his mind.

&& && $ $# $#($#( ---with Trina and Beth

"I can't do this. I can't believe this. My life is over."

"That's why we're here. Chill out, we're disguised well."

"I can't…Abort my kid…"

"Do you want to do this or not? I have shit to do."

"I guess…Hey, what was that?" She whipped her head around as she opened the door to the clinic.

The other girl turned her head as well and they both gasped as they saw three or four photographers snapping their pictures, their face now plainly seen.

"Oh, shit," she cried as the girls hustled into the building.

Haha yes, that last part was meant to be confusing as far as who is who. Please review :P


	9. Chapter 9

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 9

Summary: Logan's childhood. Trina knows about the abuse, but why does she mock Logan about it? Starts when he was 12, and continues until he's 18.

A/N: You guys rock 33

"Hey, Duncan," Logan called, running to catch up with Duncan, whom had been at the Kane's mailbox.

"Hey. You're good, I didn't think you'd be able to get out. No broken bones?"

"Haha, not yet. I told my dad I was going to some friend of his, to see a script. So I didn't have to come out the window. So where is everything?"

"Inside. Lilly gave me a ten person limit. She has like fifty, of course, but oh well."

"Who all did you invite?"

"You, Veronica, Dick, Beaver, Shelly, Meg, Pam, Casey, Madison, and Caz."

"Okay so Veronica probably won't drink, Beaver definitely won't drink, Meg will probably leave after sniffing alcohol, Madison will probably end up sleeping with someone and Caz will probably be the one pining over Madison as she does the dirty deed in your bedroom. So plenty for us," Logan said gleefully, ticking off the names with his fingers.

"Yeah except Lilly's made it explicitly clear that the beer and stuff is off limits," Duncan said, pushing open the front door. The blast of noise took Logan by surprise since he hadn't initially heard anything. "Dad has been working on making the house sound-proof for some reason," Duncan told him after seeing his reaction.

Logan grinned as he saw Lilly in the center of the room, dancing with some guy. "Your sister is so hot," he yelled at Duncan.

"Here, Duncan," Lilly's boyfriend called, handing him a couple of beers. Duncan shrugged and handed it to Logan.

An hour later, Logan was, in Dick's words, "completely fucking gone!" Duncan hadn't enjoyed the taste of whatever Lilly's friends had brought, so he kept giving Logan whatever was passed to him. Logan actually didn't really even enjoy the taste of the shit, but he knew that it was better to just pretend to rather than suffer at Dick's taunting. Before tonight, Logan had drunk just a beer or two at a time. Dick, however, had gotten his first hangover at the age of 12, something he liked to bring up multiple times in a single conversation.

"Hi, would you like me to take off my pants and jacket?" Logan giggled to Lilly, collapsing on the couch to where his head fell on her lap.

"Um, Logan, wow," she said, shaking her head. "Duncan, get your dopey friend off of me!" She called.

"You know you like me," he puckered his lips and smacked them.

"Oh hell, is THAT what you want?" Lilly said, rolling her eyes. She bent over and kissed Logan on the lips. He stared at her in surprise.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Logan heard her boyfriend yell. Steve Dramis was probably not one to mess around with, so he quickly got up from Lilly's lap and wiped at his lips as if trying to remove any evidence.

"You're dead," Steve screamed, glaring at Logan and Lilly.

"First you gotta catch me, fat boy," Logan smirked at him. He jumped back on forth from his left and right leg, "You can't catch an Irish fellow!"

Steve growled and lunged for Logan. "That was truly animal like, dude," Logan exclaimed before taking off.

Logan knew that he wouldn't be able to outrun Steve for long. Logan could easily duck through crowds and because he was so scrawny, he could get a faster start. However, Steve was on the Neptune High football teams for a reason, and while much larger, he had lasting power. And Steve was definitely not scared to just push through the same crowds Logan was ducking through.

Steve grabbed Logan and jerked him back. "You asshat, you think just because your daddy is Aaron Echolls I can't hurt you?"

"No, I don't think that at all. In fact, it's that I'm obviously a little smarter than you, which is why I think you can't hurt me," Logan said innocently.

"Smarter than me?" Steve roared, shoving Logan to the ground. "If you ever look at my girlfriend again, I will murder you."

He stormed away and Dick helped Logan up off the ground. "Priceless, Logan. Simply priceless," he was laughing hysterically.

"Shut up," Logan muttered, swiping the beer from Dick's hands.

"Whoa, Logan, chill out. You're starting to look kind of sick," Veronica came up and told him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him off to a quieter room.

"I really, really don't feel good," Logan gasped. He felt clammy and he was finding it harder and harder to breathe.

"Logan, wait here," Veronica said. Logan noticed that she was sounding scared, but he couldn't hear her words very well-it sounded like she was fading in and out. His eyes kept fluttering open, and it was getting difficult to stay awake.

"Lilly! Duncan! Someone call 911! There's something wrong with Logan! Hurry!" Veronica screamed desperately. Duncan, Lilly, Steve and Meg all ran into the room.

"He's drank too much. I think he has alcohol poisoning or something-Duncan, call an ambulance," Steve directed. "Lilly, roll him onto his side."

Veronica and Meg stood back, grimacing as Logan tried to throw up. "Get him on his side so he can puke!" Steve snapped at Lilly.

"I need your help, asshole," Lilly replied coldly.

"You didn't need my help ten minutes ago."

"Steve! He's sick. He's 13. I don't think he's ever been tipsy, let alone drunk off his ass. Forget your fucking pride and help me!"

Steve sighed and bent down, roughly positioning Logan's body.

"There's an ambulance on the way," Duncan said, standing back where Veronica and Meg were.

"We are in so much trouble," Lilly said in disgust, shaking her head. "Get everyone out of here and get your little friends to help clean up as much as possible before they get here. Celeste will never let me hear the end of this."

&& && & &&& &&&& &

Aaron grinned as he read through the reviews of his movie on a fansite. "'Aaron is still sooo amazing!' You bet your ass I am," he laughed, lighting a cigar. He groaned as his cell phone rang.

"Yes, this is Aaron Echolls."

"Mr. Echolls, I have some rather…Interesting information for you."

"Really? Unless it's an eight-figure offer, I have no interest," Aaron scoffed, thinking it was his agent, Paul Williams.

"Not an eight-figure offer, although that can be gladly arranged. But I was wandering if you knew where your daughter…Tina? Tina Echolls is."

"First off, my daughter is Trina. And secondly, of course I know where she is. Who the hell is this?"

"Just a photographer for the National Enquirer. So, you know where Trina is. Are you proud?"

"Proud that she's studying? Sure."

"Hmm that's what I figured. Well, I'm sure you will be proud of what I publish in next week's Enquirer." And he hung up.

"Well that was interesting," Aaron said out loud, growing worried. He knew from experience that it was never good when a photographer suggested that a money offer 'could be arranged'.

The phone rang again, except this time it was his home phone.

"Look you cheap trailer trash, what exactly do you have that's so interesting?" Aaron snapped angrily.

"Uh, is this Mr. Echolls?" A different voice asked.

"Yes…"

"Sir, I'm going to need you to get down to Neptune Memorial right away. We have just admitted your son, Logan, due to what we believe to be a minimal case of alcohol poisoning. He is currently getting his stomach pumped."

"Oh God, I'll be right there," Aaron exclaimed, hanging up the phone.

"Lynn! Logan's in the hospital! Hurry!" He screamed, grabbing his keys.

"Um, Aaron, I don't really feel well," Lynn slurred from the kitchen bar counter.

"I don't care how you feel. This is your son. How would it look if I walked in without you? Now come on. Just don't…Just don't talk, for Christ's sake!"


	10. Chapter 10

An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 10

This chapter: Who had the abortion, and how Aaron and Lynn handle Logan's "situation".

A/N: Wow I got so many reviews last chapter, thank you!!!

"Mr and Mrs. Echolls, we gave Logan something to help him sleep through the night. It's not something we normally do-we would rather patients who have these kinds of events happen learn from their lesson-but he is a little younger than our usual patients," the doctor told Aaron and Lynn in the hall outside Logan's hospital room.

"Thank you, doctor…" Aaron stole a quick look at the doctor's white jacket, "Martin. I appreciate all that you guys have done, and helping Logan sleep at night. However, I must admit I would have loved for him to learn a lesson from all of this. Thirteen and in a hospital for alcohol poisoning. What did I do wrong?" Aaron cried out, squeezing a few tears out of his eyes.

"Mr. Echolls, you would not believe how many cases we get like this a week. Logan isn't even one of your youngest. Why, we have an eleven-year-old last week…But, I'm getting paged. I will check on Logan in a few hours, and there will be nurses in and out. Both of you can feel free to stay the night, just request a cot or something."

"Aaron, please let me go home, I really don't feel good. I can't handle this right now," Lynn mumbled as they stepped into the room.

"For the love of God, Lynn, just leave. Is it really a wonder why our son got drunk off his ass?" Aaron yelled at her, looking out the window in the room.

"That's not fair, Aaron. I didn't feel well before we got here, I told you that!"

"Because you have been drinking since you got back from LA this morning. Just go. Run. It's what you always do, right?"

Lynn just shook her head and grabbed her Louis Vuitton purse. She kissed Logan's forehead and left without looking back at Aaron.

Aaron sat beside the hospital bed and looked around. He had seen more machines, of course. His good friend had OD'ed a few years before and hadn't made it. But it was different to see a heart monitor attached to your son and an IV dripping fluid into his bruised arm.

"Logan?" Aaron quietly asked, taking his hand.

Logan opened his eyes and found himself staring into his father's rugged face. He instinctively jumped, looking around. Then he remembered where he was. Neptune Memorial. Strangely enough, he felt safer at this knowledge, knowing that his father wouldn't dare do something stupid in public.

"Logan, what you did was so…Stupid," Aaron exclaimed, shaking his head. "You're thirteen years old! Do you know what could've happened if your friends hadn't been watching you?"

"No, dad, I don't. If I did, that'd mean I'd be knowledgeable in the area of alcohol poisoning, and that'd mean I wouldn't be here," Logan spat back.

"Whatever, Logan. I am so…Unbelievably pissed at you."

"I know dad. I've disappointed the family, once again, I have no respect for you or mom, I cause Trina to have anxiety fits. And what I did will probably grace the cover of National Enquirer. Are we done yet?"

"First of all, this has nothing to do with the business. Not to mention, nothing you could do could ever be important enough to be on a magazine," Aaron snapped, sneering. Then he remembered the strange phone call.

"Logan, do you know anything about Trina that I don't?"

"Other than the fact that she's a manipulative, lying…No I don't."

Aaron shook his head and didn't say anything. After ten minutes of silence, he looked over and realized that Logan had again dozed off, the thin hospital sheet swallowing his body.

Aaron stood up and stretched. He grabbed his car keys and walked outside, the moon shining brightly. He had taken just a couple of steps when he heard the familiar click of a camera.

"What exactly are you doing at Neptune Memorial, Aaron Echolls?" The reporter asked bitingly, ready to jot down anything on his notepad.

"My son is in there. Sick. Is that all?" Aaron asked, chalking up the "Worried Father" routine.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What's wrong with him?"

"He's sick. That's all we really know at this point."

&& && & & & && &&& & &( &

The next day Aaron came back to Neptune Memorial. Logan was sitting on his hospital bed, scratching at a mosquito bite on his leg.

"Hey, dad," he said, apparently forgetting the awkward note they had gone silent on the night before.

"Hurry up, Logan," Aaron said.

"I'm ready," Logan mumbled, standing up.

The pair walked out and were blinded by a flash of a camera. "Sick, Mr. Echolls? Why is your thirteen-year-old son in the detox ward?" The same reporter bugged.

Aaron looked up, not even realizing that Neptune Memorial had a detox ward, let alone that his son had been in it. Sure enough, a large sign hung above them. Only a fourth of this floor was dedicated to the lesser-than-noble Neptune residents, but there could be no confusion as to which ward Logan belonged to. The unit that took up the rest of the three-fourths of this floor was the labor and delivery ward.

"Sir, my son made a mistake. He has learned his lesson, and as you can see, he is terribly upset and scared. This was a minimal case of alcohol poisoning. Logan has never drank before, and got carried away. Please do not make a big deal out of this simply because he is my son," Aaron said calmly, placing a firm hand on Logan's shoulders as Logan looked down in shame.

The reporter just chuckled and jotted down a few sentences and clicked off the recorder that Aaron nor Logan had noticed, and walked away towards the elevator.

Aaron leaned down to Logan's ear. "If that ends up anywhere, there will be hell to pay," he whispered harshly.

Logan prayed that he meant for the magazine.

(( &&$#& $#($#( #$#(( & $#&$#

A week later, Logan was wandering around listlessly. In Publix the day before, Logan had grimaced as the National Enquirer had placed Trina and Logan on their cover. A picture of Logan guzzling a shot of vodka faded into a photograph or Trina and "an unidentified friend" walking into the clinic, with a zoomed-in picture of Trina's apparent "bumpy tummy".

Logan had had no idea that the picture existed, but knew it was him. Aaron hadn't spoken to him since they had seen the magazine.

His mother, luckily, probably hadn't seen the picture. She had been on vacation in Bermuda with a few of her friends since the day Logan had left the hospital.

Logan went towards his Playstation but saw that it wasn't there. "So this is dad's way of subtle punishment? Not so subtle, asshole!" Logan yelled angrily, almost hoping that his father would hear it.

He fell silent for a few seconds to see if he heard the rapid footsteps that usually accompanied a pissed-off Aaron, but heard nothing except…

"What the fuck?" He exclaimed, his heart pounding. He heard moans coming from nearby. He stepped outside the sliding doors leading to the pool and realized they were coming from the guesthouse.

"Oh, Trina is in so much trouble," he said gleefully, going back to grab a digital camera. After all she had done to him lately, he wasn't letting her get away. Not to mention, she suspected that Aaron could possibly be more angry at her than him. "ECHOLLS KIDS GONE WILD; ONE ABORTS, ONE OVER-DRINKS" the headline had accused, and Trina seemed to be on the receiving end of the worst of the backlash.

"Smile, Trina," Logan said loudly as he swung open the door to the guest house.

It was definitely not Trina.

"Dad?!" Logan screamed in disgust just as Aaron yelled "Shut the fucking door, Logan!"


	11. Chapter 11

An Echolls Family Truth

Previous Chapters: Logan gets a mild case of alcohol poisoning; Trina is photographed entering an abortion clinic; their exploits land them on the cover of a tabloid. Logan walks in on Aaron having sex with a woman.

Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. I got a ton!!! I'm glad everybody seems to like this story. I'm not even worried about rushing it through and aging Logan anymore. I hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to review, and if you think anything needs to be changed just tell me!

Logan slammed the door in shock. He couldn't tell whom his dad was with, but he was sure it wasn't his mother. He walked around the living room in a daze, stopping at the bulletin board that Lynn tried to maintain.

In a ew weeks, Logan noticed, his parents would be taking their biannual vacation. October 3rd was marked as their departure date.

A few minutes later Logan heard the sliding door to the house open, and his dad's loud footsteps. Logan turned to leave the room but Aaron grabbed his arm and yanked him around.

"You better keep your mouth shut Logan," he said slowly.

"I can't believe you. You think I'm just going to stand by and let you cheat on my mother?" Logan yelled, pointing to the bulletin board, "in 3 weeks you're taking her on a cruise. So today you cheat on her?"

"My personal life is none of your god damn business, so watch it, Logan. But I will tell you this. A lost playstation? The least of your worries," Aaron snarled as he twisted Logan's arm. "A broken arm? Not even close."

"Dad! Let go of me!" Logan yelled, his arm throbbing in pain. Aaron just laughed and shoved him to the ground.

"Cry Logan. Go ahead! Cry!" Aaron stood above him as tears welled in Logan's eyes, laughing as Logan held his arm and let out a stifled cry. "That's what I thought," Aaron sneered, kicking Logan's legs out of the way to walk around him.

Logan heard the front door open. It was Lynn. "Mom!" Logan cried out, giving her a pleading look.

Lynn looked from Aaron to Logan. "What did you do now?" She asked into the air. Logan wasn't sure which one of them she was talking to.

She bent down over Logan and gently took his arm. Logan stopped himself from cringing at the smell of wine on her breath. "It's not broken, I don't think," Lynn said quietly, looking up at Aaron. "So what did he trip over this time, Aaron?" She demanded.

Aaron laughed. "You're drunk. You're a filthy drunk."

"I'm not drunk! What did he trip over, Aaron? So I know what to tell my friends this time. Come on, Aaron. Last time his arm was in a sling, what was it? Did he fall off the dirt bike you gave to a toy bank in front of Fox News? Or was that the time he fell out of the big oak tree that can't be found anywhere in Neptune?" Lynn yelled, her voice rising. Logan looked at her in surprise.

"What the hell are you rambling about?" Aaron demanded.

Lynn threw a newspaper at him. "Read the front cover story, Aaron."

Aaron looked over it and grinned. "Would you look at that? We've been picked as the West Coast Celebrity Parents of the Year!"

"And below that, Aaron?"

"'Boy, 14, murdered by father.' So what?"

"You are going to kill our son! That man beat his son everyday until he finally snapped and-and-just killed him!"

Logan's heart sank. He realized that his mother was drunk. And she probably wouldn't remember this tirade tomorrow. And Aaron seemed to realize this because he winked at Logan and then softened his face and pulled Lynn into a hug.

"Sweetie, I am so sorry. I know I haven't been a great father lately. Please believe me when I mean that I don't mean to. I just snap. Logan was being just so disrespectful today. Tell you what, we'll go get that dirt bike today. Right now. Okay?" He pulled her apart and looked into her eyes.

Logan shook his head in disgust, about to protest when his mother offered Aaron a weak smile. "Aaron, I know you would never hurt him-us-purposely. You're right, though. Maybe I should just lay down. I might have had one too many with the ladies."

Aaron smiled at her and gave her another tight hug. "It gets the best of us. I had a beer or two this afternoon-maybe that's why I'm so temperamental. Here, let's go get you situated," he said and led her to their room upstairs.

Logan sat there in a daze. Trina walked in through the front door with a large grin on her face. "Hi, baby brother, get off the floor! The maids haven't been here in two days," she grimaced, then grinned again.

"What are you so happy for?" Logan asked, grabbing the table for extra support as he slowly got to his feet.

"This whole abortion fiasco has just gotten completely out of control, so I fixed it," she said nonchalantly.

"How can you fix an abortion?"

"Easy," she said and thrust the same tabloid into his arms. A week ago the title had screamed about the screwed-up Echolls children. Now, it had a picture of Trina crying and her friend holding her stomach in pain. "FRIEND ADMITS SHE HAD ABORTION; NOT AARON'S DAUGHTER" now was printed.

"How did you get her to do this?" Logan asked disgustedly.

"Money will get you anywhere in life, Logan. You know that. Just look at your report cards," she giggled into her palm.

"You paid your friend to take the blame for an abortion? And she went along with it?"

Trina flashed him at least ten hundred-dollar bills. "Repeat after me: Money will get you anywhere in life. Oh, daddy is going to be so proud of me. By the way, what happened to your arm? Did you fall down the stairs again?"

Logan shook his head.

"Of course you did. Well, bye," she said and ran up the stairs.

She met Aaron half-way. "Daddy, look at this," Trina said excitedly.

Aaron scanned the magazine and broke into a huge grin. "If you only your fucking brother could be this smart," he said, thumping the corner that had a picture of Logan drinking that night. "'Update on Logan Echolls' condition.' Update? Sorry world, my son is still an idiot, still screwing up, still embarrassing this family."

"Trina, I think it might be time to get you that car you've been wanting."

"Oh my god! That's so awesome! Oh, let me go get my purse," she said, shooting up the stairs.

When she was out of earshot, Aaron turned to Logan, who was slumped against the wall in disbelief. "That is how you handle a scandal, Logan," he said proudly.

"How would you handle America finding out that sweet, golden-hearted Aaron Echolls was a cheater, dad? Just wondering," Logan sneered back.

Aaron just scoffed. And took a swift step to Logan, grabbing the front of his shirt. "I can handle anything. I control this family. You can't do anything about it, now can you?"

Trina came back downstairs.

"Let's go, Trina. Logan, I think the guest room needs straightening. I gave the cleaners this week off. Maybe you can clean it up a little bit? I'll consider giving you a month's grounding instead of two."

"What about my dirt bike?" Logan asked angrily, although he knew there was no point in asking.

"Don't worry, little brother. I'll drive you around still, sometimes," Trina replied, walking out, holding onto Aaron's arm.

Logan held his arm but realized that the pain was slowly going away. His dad hadn't done anything requiring a sling or a brace or a cast this time.

He slowly walked out to the guest room, opening the door and peaking in. The sheets were ruffled and Logan felt disgusting just being in there. But he knew that this was just a twisted punishment, and if he didn't do it, Aaron would make him do something weird like sleep in there.

He walked into Aaron's entertainment center. Aaron was very weird about the area, and Logan had never been allowed near it. Logan just figured it had been his Porn station, and knew that he was right when on the floor just in front of it he saw a porn magazine with the title "TIGHT TEENS". "This is so fucking gross," Logan spoke out loud.

"What is so gross?" He heard a girl ask.

He turned around and saw Veronica Mars. He kicked the magazine under the bed. "Uh, nothing, just this room. Dad hasn't had the cleaners here all week so I have to clean it," he explained non chalantly.

"Yeah, it must suck having your cleaners have a whole week off," Veronica mocked him, grinning as she flopped onto the bed.

"Ugh, you might not want to lay there," Logan stifled a laugh.

"And why not?" She asked, sitting up.

"Um…Never mind. Want to help me make it?" Logan asked. She shrugged and the two made the bed.

"Who ever sleeps out here anyway?" Veronica asked.

"Um, if we have family or friends over I guess. We have spare rooms in the house but dad thought that having a separate house was cooler I think. No one ever does, anyway."

"Then who slept in here recently?" She questioned, bending down and picking up a bra from the ground. "Actually, I don't think I wanna know."

"Give me that," Logan snapped and threw it into the trash can.

Veronica sat back down on the bed and laid down. Logan did the same and pushed his head against hers.

"Ow, butthole," she whined, pinching his sides.

"You weakling!" Logan returned her jab and then when he saw her shriek and twist away laughed and started tickling her.

"Logan…No…Ow…I'm going to…Pee myself…Loooogaaaaan," she breathed heavily in between explosions of laughter as she tried to slip away.

"Not so fast," Logan said and pinned her down, turning quickly as he sat on top of her stomach. He grinned and moved his fingers in front of her face and started randomly jabbing her sides.

"Logan!" She yelped, laughing so hard that she had tears running down her face.

He stopped long enough to take a good look at her.

Veronica Mars was easily the prettiest girl he had ever seen in Neptune. She wasn't as prissy as some of the others, either.

"What?" She asked, noticing his stare. He shook his head and half-heartedly tickled her again.

"You suck," she laughed and moved quickly so he tumbled off of her. She pinned him down and quickly sat on his stomach.

"Oof, you weigh a ton!" Logan moaned playfully.

"Shut up!" She exclaimed.

"I knew you wanted me," Logan grinned, puckering his lips at her playfully.

To his surprise, she leaned down and kissed him.

He stared at her wide-eyed.

"Was that your first kiss?" She asked, looking into his eyes.

"Ye…No, of course not. I am THE pro, baby," he said, grinning back up at her.

"You are such a liar," she said, laughing as she went to step down.

Just then, Duncan and Lilly walked into the room.

"Wow, didn't know we were interrupting something," Lilly joked, standing with her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing mischieviously at Veronica. "We can leave, you know!"

"Yes! Leave!" Logan exclaimed just as Veronica and Duncan burst out, "No!"

Logan looked at Veronica, feeling hurt, but she wasn't looking at him. "You weren't interrupting anything, Lilly," she smirked back. "So what movie do you want to see?"


	12. Chapter 12

An Echolls Family Truth, chapter 12

Editor's note: Sorry so long. I've been very busy, it's crazy. I just realized how sucky the name of this story is…haha. Oh well. I hope you guys enjoy!

Previous chapter: Logan walked in on Aaron in bed with somebody and Aaron threatens him to keep his mouth shut. Lynn confronts Aaron but Aaron managed to sweet talk his way out of it. Trina "fixes" abortion ordeal by paying off friend. Logan and Veronica have a "moment" that seems to be quickly forgotten by Veronica.

&(&(&(&&&&&(& (& (& ()

It was nearly a month later, and Logan was at the Kane house, where he had been spending a lot of time. His parents had been on their vacation for a couple of days now, and Trina had all but locked Logan out of their house.

Truly, Logan hadn't even been at the Kane house for Duncan. Well, Duncan was his friend…But Duncan went through times when it was best not to look at him wrong and this was one of those times. Duncan had stormed out of the pool after Lilly had made fun of him for something.

Logan was in one corner of the pool watching as Lilly swam laps. They had now been going out for a week, and it was a little weird still. Duncan had been a bit freaked out at first, and Lilly had told Logan not to flaunt it around school.

"Logan, come do my back," Lilly called, hoisting herself out of the pool and throwing him the suntan lotion.

She poked a little found scar on his shoulder. "You have like five of these. From what?" She asked as she turned around and unstrapped her bikini top.

"I don't know, Lilly. The Easter bunny," Logan snapped as he rubbed lotion slowly over her back. She always asked the same question. He couldn't tell if she honestly forgot that she had already asked or if she just wanted desperately to know. Whatever it was, it annoyed Logan each and every time.

"Last time you said Santa Claus," she teased and re-fastened her top before turning around and pulling him into a long kiss. "You can tell me anything. I'm here for you, Logan Echolls."

"I know that, Lilly Kane," Logan said back and kissed the top of her nose. "I'm good. I'm great. I have you and I have Duncan and I can come here whenever I want. That's all I need."

"Yeah, I told mommy dearest that she should just make one of the guest rooms a room for you. She seemed to think I just want that for easy access or something. Silly dear."

"I just sleep on Duncan's floor. It's fine. I don't mind."

"I know that, Logan. I'm just saying. And I like messing with her head. So when are your parents coming home?"

Logan just shrugged. "I don't know. I think they were looking for a script while they were gone, too."

"It must be so cool to have movie stars as parents. All that glitz and glamour...I would just bask in it. Your dad is so amazing."

"Lilly, shut the hell up. It's great waking up to your face on the front of a magazine cover just because you drank."

"Don't talk to me like that! Ugh you can be so temperamental. I'm the one who's allowed to be a bitch monthly, just remember that."

"Monthly?" Logan scoffed, but then smiled and kissed her again. "My parents will be home in a week or two, I think."

&(&( &(& (& )( ( ( &&#&#&

Two Weeks Later

"Lilly, dear, can't you guys ever go to Logan's house?" Mrs. Kane stated with disdain, eyeing the group sitting around a table outside. Her nose particularly turned up at Veronica.

"Well sure mom, but his parents aren't home and I know how you feel when I am alone with boys," Lilly replied, smirking.

"Oh, they're home, Logan. I forgot to tell you, your dad called earlier. He sounded excited," Jake came up and said.

"Oh, great. Thanks. I guess we can go over there. It's not as-uh-exciting..."

"Oh yeah, this is thrilling," Lilly swirled her hands around as a maid came up from behind her and gave her a disapproving look.

"Maybe you clean up dirty mess before I do, Miss Kane," the lady said with disgust, shaking her head, handing an envelope to Mrs. Kane.

"What is that?" Logan demanded quietly.

"I don't know, Logan. I can't read minds, thanks. But let's go," Lilly said and got up hurriedly.

When Logan walked into his house, he made it a point to say loudly that he was home and he had guests.

"Oh, Logan, come back here!" Aaron called from the outside.

Logan walked slowly out there, his friends following.

Aaron was standing proudly beside a brand-new Honda motor bike. "It's an MX110, much better than your old one. For doing so well lately...at school," he said, taking off the huge red bow that covered the seat.

"That's amazing, Logan! it's better than my new one!" Duncan exclaimed, running his hands over the blue paint.

"If you don't like the blue color, we can go back and get it repainted...You like it, right?" Aaron asked eagerly.

"Um, yeah dad. It's amazing," Logan said quietly and managed to give his father a hug. Aaron gave him a tight squeeze before letting go.

"I see you've brought some friends to greet us," Aaron laughed. "Hey Duncan. Veronica. Lilly."

"Hey, Mr. Echolls," they all answered back.

"Oh non sense. It's Aaron. So Trina tells me that you have a girlfriend now," Aaron said, winking at Logan.

"Yeah, it's Lilly," Logan gestured towards Lilly as he climbed atop his dirt bike. "We should race, Duncan!" He said excitedly, looking hopefully at his dad.

"Well Logan, you've caught yourself a real beauty. Sure you guys can race. I'll take you to the trails if you want. I have some ATV's if you want, Veronica and Lilly."

"Um I probably shouldn't. Definately not my style," Lilly responded. "Me and Veronica had plans, but go ahead Veronica. You don't get to because your dad has a pole shoved up his ass about that sort of thing. Duncan, go ask dad. Tell him I'm on my way home."

"Thanks, Lilly," Veronica smirked at her as Duncan nodded and went inside.

"Well bye, Logan," Lilly said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Bye, Mr.-Um, Aaron."

"Bye, Lilly," Logan told her as he started fooling around with his bike.

"I'll give you a ride home, Lilly, if you want," Aaron offered.

"Oh, sure. I'll be waiting by the cars." She went inside.

Aaron turned towards Logan.

"This IS for doing good in school lately. But it's also because you've done a good job at keeping your mouth shut. I love you, son," Aaron said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, dad," Logan muttered with his head down. Logan was not planning on keeping his mouth shut. His mother would know. Keeping the secret for a month had been eating him alive.

"When I get back from taking Lilly home, I'll take you and Duncan to find some good trails. Go find your gear."

"You threw my gear away. Trina told you I failed a history test and you threw my gear away," Logan mumbled.

Aaron got quiet. "We'll get you some more on the way. Just tell Duncan you lost them."


	13. Chapter 13

**An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 13**

last chapter: Lilly and Logan are now together. Aaron gave Logan a new dirt bike in front of his friends for "doing well in school", but Aaron informs Logan his true reason: for keeping his mouth shut about stumbling upon Aaron cheating.

Author's note: Enjoy, guys. Wow, only a week in between chapters this time! haha. Please review :)

* * *

Aaron had taken the truck of the gardner and loaded Logan's new bike and Duncan's into the bed. They drove a couple of hours until they were near San Ynez, in the foothills where Aaron had often taken Logan.

Logan didn't have all bad memories of his father, he wasn't dumb enough to simply dwell on the bad ones. This place had never been tainted by a bad memory. Even when it was just father and son, it seemed like father just thoroughly wanted to enjoy son without having to keep up appearances. Aaron use to ride with Logan when Logan was much younger and to small for his own. They'd ride the dirt bikes and the four-wheelers, with Logan riding back and gleefully hanging onto his dad for dear life. Then as Logan grew and Aaron bought him his first bike, Aaron slowly started being on the sidelines as his age caught up with him. The last time they had been there was a few months, maybe it had even been a year. Aaron hadn't been up to taking Logan and if any of the kids wanted to ride, they had to find some local trails, which was relatively difficult in Neptune. Not to mention, for the most part it was illegal.

Once Aaron had woken up the family in the middle of the night and announced that they were going on vacation to Australia. He had had it planned for weeks, yet had used an alias to buy the plane tickets in order to keep it a "real" vacation-sans PEOPLE reporters and Entertainment Tonight cameras. And it had been fun. Aaron and Lynn took real family photos of Trina burying Logan under the sand, and Trina having a surfing lesson, and Logan on his dad's shoulders. And just the one time when Logan spilled the bottle of soda into the sand, did Aaron just slightly push Logan.

Yep, San Ynez was far away from the cameras and video cameras being shoved into their faces. Even Duncan had been in many a PEOPLE issue in their startracks section as they followed the Echolls family and friends around California. Duncan thought it was "cool", as the media's interest only peaked a couple of times a year with the Kane family, and even then mostly they just got a page in a boring magazine.

Logan had summed it up to Duncan one day, "You wouldn't think it was cool if everything you did was tracked in a magazine, and if the only family pictures your parents framed and displayed happened to be ones taken professionally for US Weekly. Believe me. It gets old when your eight-year-old birthday convientantly occurs on a day when daddy thought it neccessary to go save the African children. So he gets a two in one...Devoted family man as he tapes his son blowing out his candles, and tireless worker as he fake smiles around a group of emaciated children he later cringes about touching."

And like most his friends, Duncan told him he was overreacting.

"You guys get your bikes warmed up or whatever it is you do. I haven't ridden one in awhile."

"Dad, you can ride with us. I can ride double with Duncan or something and you can ride mine," Logan offered.

Aaron shook his head. "I think I'm just going to read this book. It's suppose to be good," he smiled and flashed them the cover. "AARON ECHOLLS: UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY". Logan inwardly cringed as Duncan laughed.

"Come on dad, it'll be fun!"

"Logan. Quit whining and go play with your friend, please," Aaron said through gritted teeth.

Logan rolled his eyes and motioned for Duncan to follow him.

* * *

Later that night, Aaron snapped at Logan for "acting like a whiney brat" in front of "that Kane kid" before he left to go "review scripts".

After he had left, Logan slowly walked upstairs to his parent's room. He never went in there much. He saw Lynn sitting on the bed, watching TV.

"Mom?"

"Oh, hey Logan," she said, absentmindedly tapping the empty side of the bed. She wasn't drinking and he didn't see any wine glasses around, so he figured now was probably a good time to confess what he had seen.

"Mom...Please don't think I'm just trying to start trouble-"

"Oh, nothing good can ever come from that sentence. I'm just kidding, sweetie, go on."

"Like a month ago or something...Before you and dad went on the vacation...I was home alone. Well I thought I was. Then I heard noises coming from the guesthouse and thought it was Trina, because-well, never mind this isn't about her. But it wasn't, mom..." Logan trailed off, looking at her face and then running his hands through his hair.

"What, Logan? What'd she do?"

"Nothing. Trina's isn't involved. It was dad. He was in bed...with another woman-"

"Get out!" Lynn interrupted.

"Mom! I'm not lying, I wouldn't do this to you if I was lying!"

"Get the HELL out of this room, Logan! I cannot believe you would do this to me!"

Logan got up and stomped his foot.

"I'm not lying! I wouldn't hurt you like that!"

"You obviously don't care. Your father doesn't cheat. Unlike your little tramp girlfriend."

"Don't talk about Lilly like that!"

"Get out, Logan. You'll be lucky if your father doesn't hear about this. Very lucky," Lynn screamed, turning back to the TV.

"Mom-I..."

Logan backed out, shaking his head. "This isn't how it was suppose to go. Mom, i'm telling the truth. What can I do to make you believe me?" He asked pleadingly. "We can just get out of here!"

"You are unbelieable, Logan. You and Trina...defiantely siblings. First you tell me that my husband is sleeping with another woman-under my nose, right?-and now you suggest we leave him? Great, Logan. Let's just pack up and leave your dad, okay? And if I wasn't 100 sure this wasn't some sort of twisted retaliation for some wrong you think he's done, I might believe you. But I know you."

"Whatever, mom. You'll see. He has you fooled. I'm the only one who sees that he isn't Mr. Echolls, family man. But I guess that's fitting. I'm trying to keep you from getting hurt and you're going to sit there and let it happen. Okay, mom."

And with that, Logan slammed her door before hearing her response. His face was hot and red, he was breathing hard and he could feel tears trickling down his cheeks.

He stood outside her door and then he heard the opening of the front door. He peaked over the banister and saw his dad.

"What are you doing home so early?" Logan greeted Aaron.

"Wow, happy to see you, too, Logan. I forgot something."

"Oh...Well, good night," Logan said calmly and went into his room. He heard his father walk upstairs and his heart started beating faster as he realized that his father was heading to their room.

After a few moments, Logan closed his eyes and heard, "HE TOLD YOU WHAT? THAT FUCKING LITTLE BASTARD!"

Logan locked his door and turned off his lights. He grabbed his desk chair and pushed it against the door in the best way possible and jumped into his bed, pretending to be asleep.

Then his dad started banging on the door.

* * *

I hope you guys don't think this is moving to slowly. at first I didn't really want it to be that long; but then I figured that people seem to enjoy it, so why go really fast? haha. I think it'll be really fun once I get to when the show starts, when events have already been established and such :)


	14. Chapter 14

**An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter Fourteen**

* * *

**Last chapter**: Logan remembers good times with his family, as he and Duncan ride around the track in San Ynez. Later that night, he tries to tell his mother that Aaron was with another woman, but she doesn't believe him. Aaron comes home unexpectantly and I left off at him pounding on Logan's door.

**Author's note**: i got a ton of reviews last chapter, thanks. Does anyone not like that it's moving sort of slow? I don't mind either way...I just want you guys to like it! By the way, at this point it's late October/early November of Logan's 8th grade year and he's 13 :) It's 2 years before Lilly is murdered. Btw again, I don't remember if i ever designated a birthday for Logan, or if they did on the show, but I think it's February, so that's what it's going to be in here, lol.

* * *

"Logan, open this door, NOW," Aaron screamed, jiggling the doorknob so hard that Logan was afraid it was simply going to break. "I know you're awake, you ungrateful little bastard, so open the fucking door!"

Suddenly Aaron stopped. "Okay Logan, you win. But we will talk about this later."

Logan realized that he had been so afraid that his body had gradually began to shake in entire convulsions. He stayed under his covers, knowing that his father couldn't possibly be done.

Moments passed-how long, Logan didn't know, because he was to scared to even peek at the alarm clark that was a foot away from him. His breath slowly returned to normal, and in all the hysteria that was going on in his head he didn't hear the soft 'click' coming from his door, but he heard the door bang open as the chair was sent across the room.

"I know you're not sleeping," Aaron sneered, grabbing the covers and tearing them off of Logan. He held up a weirdly shaped key. "I'm a lot smarter than you. You didn't think I wouldn't have a key to the rooms of my house? Silly boy."

Logan cowered into the corner of his bed, trying his best to look apologetic. "Dad...please," he begged.

"Please what, Logan? Please don't turn me into an ungrateful bastard? Please don't make me California's most spoiled kid? Please don't make me never have to work, or earn, for anything? Please don't let me become the embarassment of this family? A filty little liar?" Aaron spat out the last words before grabbing Logan's foot and pulling him off the bed.

"Dad, stop, don't do this!" Logan cried, putting his hands over his head instinctively. When the first blow didn't come, he looked up at his father, who was grinning.

"I was so proud the day you were born. My first son. Left the set, left a potential multi-million dollar deal that was still in the air, to be there with your mom. You were such a great baby. You never really cried that often. And now. My pride and joy has become this," he motioned disdainfully at Logan, then around Logan's large room.

"You have never made your own bed. You've never done a load of laundry in your life. Have you ever even cleaned an entire room before? I guess that's what happens when you raise a spoiled brat."

He looked around the room and stopped at Logan's nightstand. With one quick strike, the pictures, cards, lamp, and the car model were on the floor in a heap. The frames of the pictures and the lamp lay shattered while the cards and actual pictures were now bent.

Aaron strode across the room and did the same to Logan's desk. Dozens of school papers, CDs, movies, drink cans, and other various items flew across the room.

"Stop!" Logan screamed. Aaron ignored him and opened the cabinets above the desk. Models, shot glasses, a bong, condoms, and a soccer trophy joined the mess, the glasses shattering into thousands of pieces. Aaron simply crunched over them as he opened the other two cabinets, going to fast to even observe the contents.

"Look how empty these are, Logan," Aaron smirked, knowing that those were for awards and trophies. A few more trophies slammed onto the ground, ribbons flew into the air and medals landed in various places.

Logan shook his head in disbelief, tears running down his cheeks. "Dad, stop!" it was the only thing he could think to say as Aaron yanked the cabinet doors off their hinges, pulled drawers from his dresser and dumped its contents before simply throwing the drawers on top of eachother. Logan's huge, walk-in closet was soon littered with his clothes, some that hadn't been worn before. Aaron simply walked over everything, snapping hangers in half.

"Stand up," Aaron barked. Logan scrambled to his feet and Aaron grabbed his ear.

He started pulling him out of the room, then down the twisted staircase and outside. "Get your bike," Aaron whispered menacingly.

Logan shook his head. "Dad, you've done enough, I'm sorry, please let me go back in!"

"Get your fucking bike, Logan."

Aaron got his bike from the garage, his brand new dirt bike, and slowly walked beside his father. "Put it behind the SUV."

"Dad! Come on! I'll get a job or something but please don't do this!"

Aaron grabbed Logan's ear and yanked him to where his tip-toes were just hardly skimming the ground, then pushed him back down, the bike nearly landing on Logan's knee. Logan stood back up and wheeled his bike to the SUV and placed it on the ground.

Aaron was still grinning like a maniac as he climbed into the SUV and put it in reverse. He just stared at Logan as the wheels crushed his bike. Logan shook his head and then took the opportunity to sprint back into the house and up into his room, but his legs were short and Aaron's were long; Aaron burst through Logan's door before he even had a chance to lock it.

Aaron basically threw Logan down to the ground and stood above him. "Tomorrow you will not go to school. You'll pick up this mess and if I find out you had help," Aaron bent down and grabbed Logan's chin, "there will be hell to pay. Now go get one," he grabbed Logan's arm and yanked him up.

"Go get what?" Logan mumbled.

"You know what."

"No, dad just let me go to bed. You've made your point and I'm sorry-"

"I know you're sorry!" Aaron screamed and punched Logan in the stomach.

"I can ruin your life, much quicker than you can ruin mine," Aaron whispered, running his hands through Logan's hair, then flinging him to the floor.

Aaron stood up and looked to the doorway, where he saw Trina looking on in horror.

"Dad!"

Logan looked up in surprise.

"Go to bed, Logan," Aaron said calmly, walking out and slamming his bedroom door.

"Trina, you know what your brother did? He told Lynn that I was cheating on her. That he saw. He's a horrible little liar," Aaron explained quickly.

"Dad, maybe you took it a bit extreme this time...I mean...He's just a kid..." She said slowly.

"Trina, you weren't there. Anyway, I have a script for you, finally," he said, grinning as he put his arm around her shoulder.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Aaron had gone to bed and Trina slipped into Logan's room. He was in his closet, slowly putting his clothes back on hangers.

"Are you okay?" She asked, bending over to help him.

"Now do you believe me?" He whispered harshly, pulling up his shirt to reveal a large bruise on his stomach.

"Better you then me," she answered simply.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Yes, Logan, geez! Look, I'm sorry that maybe dad is a little rougher on you than me or whatever, but you provoke him sometimes. I'll help you tomorrow while he's gone, okay?"

He grabbed his clothes from her arms.

"No. Not okay. And I don't want your help. You just sit there, your punishment being that maybe you can't drive for a day, and that's really bad stuff. I tell the truth and get my room destroyed and my bike crunched. I fail a test and get beat with a belt. You get an abortion, land on the cover of a magazine, and dad just doesn't talk to you for a few hours. I'm the embarassment. Everything in this house is my fault. I hate you, and I hate dad. Now get the hell out of my room," his face was set, emotionless.

* * *

It was February. Logan's fourteenth birthday party. Dozens of Neptune's finest had been invited to the waterpark at one of Aaron's favorite country clubs. Out of those dozens, only around fourteen were actually kids. Aaron had decided that, since he hadn't had publicity for awhile, it would be cool to have a photoshoot at his "baby boy's" birthday.

Logan was opening Duncan's birthday present as the cameras flashed. It was a set of ten shot glasses, but Duncan had been smart enough to wrap a shirt around it, so PEOPLE would have Logan featuring an Abercrombie shirt rather than something involving alcohol.

"I know that you said you dropped your others, and you like collecting them, so I got you some. I don't think they're the same ones, though," Duncan whispered.

"Thanks, dude. Definately my favorite so far. Except for the one from your sister," Logan responded, winking.

At first, it didn't register, but then Duncan's face went from disgust to amazement and quickly back to disgust. "With my SISTER?" He exclaimed loudly.

Logan just grinned and took the present from Veronica.

"Oh, you are a man," Dick congratulated him.

"Dick, he was a man with my SISTER!"

"I'd be a man with your sister. She is hoooot!"


	15. Chapter 15

**An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter Fifteen**

**Last Chapter**: Aaron punishes Logan for telling his mother about the affair by destroying his room and his new dirt bike. We left off with Logan's fourteenth birthday and Logan informing Dick and Duncan that he had sex with Lilly for his birthday.

**Author's note**: Wow, I got a ton of reviews. I'm glad you guys liked it! To Becca, Logan is 14 and in 8th grade :)

* * *

It had been a month since Logan's birthday. Things had calmed down quite a bit around the Echolls' home, and the "cheating" hadn't been brought up again.

Logan was going through his closet when he came across the digital camera that he hadn't used since he had caught Aaron.

It was a cheap one, and didn't show pictures on any screen. Logan searched for the cord to plug it into the computer with and finally found it in a shoebox. When he did, he plugged it into his computer.

He grinned at the first few dozens of pictures. Him and Lilly kissing, Duncan and Veronica in their soccer uniforms. Logan and Trina at a hollywood halloween costume...thing, a year and a half before.

One picture made his heart stop. Somehow, without even realizing it, he had snapped a picture of Aaron in bed with that lady.

Logan's door swung open. "Brother, your friend is here," Trina said, shoving Brent into the door.

"Your sister is hot, but she is such a bitch," Brent muttered, rubbing his arm as he slung himself on Logan's bed.

Logan quickly turned his computer screen off. "What's up?"

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way...But I think Lilly was flirting with some guy last night. My brother Brian told me that she told his friend Jay that she was single."

Logan didn't say anything. Instead he just picked up a picture of them and shrugged.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, I heard what you said, and...I can't control Lilly. She was probably just drunk. Is that all you came for?" Logan snapped.

"Well, no, I uh...Just wanted to say hey," Brent said guiltily.

"The last time you came to say hi was when you came to tell me that Lilly told Brian that she wanted him, and before that it was to tell me that Trina slept with some random guy at some party. Just do me a favor and don't say hi anymore."

Brent rolled his eyes.

"Lilly's got a reputation whether or not you want to admit it," he said and stood up. "So good luck with that, cuz one day this conversation will come bite you in the ass."

"Brent? Fuck you. But first, kindly leave my room and let the door hit your ass on the way out," Logan smiled and stood up.

* * *

After Brent left, Logan went downstairs. Ms. Navarro was straightening up the living room.

"Logan, hola. This is mi hijo, Eli. He'll be staying with me for awhile," she introduced Logan to a short Spanish kid.

"Hi, Eli."

"Weevil," he replied roughly.

"Logan, why don't you show Eli your room? You two can be...friends."

Logan turned around and rolled his eyes. Ms. Navarro was nice, but sometimes a little whacky. He walked back upstairs with Weevil following him.

"So why will you be staying with Ms. Navarro? Isn't she a little old to be your mom?" Logan asked as he sat down. Weevil just looked at him.

"She's my grandma. My dad's in jail. My mom is...Well, I don't know as of last night," he said boringly, as if he had told the story a million times before.

"Nice. I see you come from a winning family. Will you be going to Neptune?"

"I guess. I live a few streets over. I use to go to Pan Middle. So is this what you white boys do?" Weevil asked, picking up a bong from Logan's desk.

Logan jumped up and snatched it out of Weevil's hands. "Don't even try it, padre. This won't even make it past border control," Logan sneered.

"Oh, I've never heard that one before!" Weevil laughed, but Ms. Narvarro summoned him downstairs.

"Guess I'll be seeing you around," Weevil smirked.

"Yikes, so you'll be cleaning my room now? Eek...Better hide that hand towel," Logan shook his head.

* * *

That night Logan called Lilly.

"Hey, baby," he greeted her.

"Hey, Logan," she said.

"I'm not like...accusing you of anything, but Brent said that you were telling some guy you were single?" Logan said hesitantly. This was his first serious relationship and truth be told, Lilly had a tendancy to scare the hell out of him.

"Oh my God, Logan, how could you believe that little twerp?"

"I don't know...It's dumb. Forget about it."

"Actually, I do need to talk to you."

"Alrighty. Shoot." Logan grinned and leaned back onto his bed, relaxing. He was going to beat Brent's ass one day.

"Look, I really do think that we work good together and I have a lot of feelings for you, but I was thinking maybe we should take a break...I'm in high school, Logan, and it's weird telling people 'No I'm not single. No, he doesn't go to this school, he goes to Neptune Middle!' But it's nothing you did, I just feel like maybe you should grow up a little over the summer..."

Logan was quiet. "You're breaking up with me?"

"Well...no...I guess. We just need a break."

"How do I need to grow up, Lilly? You don't know what I like to do. You never hang out with us unless we're out partying."

"Logan! Last weekend you and Duncan had to go to the emergency room for putting fireworks on a merry-go-round...And staying on it..."

Logan smiled despite himself. "Okay, that was exagerrated, and besides, Duncan's hand is almost healed now and I can see completely out of my eye again!"

"Repeat after me: Not. The. Point."

"Lilly! It's bullshit, you knew I was younger than you, why is this a problem five months later?" Logan screamed.

"It's not just that, it's just like I told you, you have more fun with my brother than me. You say I don't want to hang out with you guys but it's you and a bunch of your guys friends and you just all get drunk there. What's the difference in getting drunk at a playground than a house?"

"Of course I have more fun with your brother, he's not a conceited bitch!" Logan yelled and slammed down the phone.

Aaron came into his room. "What the hell are you yelling about? I'm on the phone."

"Lilly's being a...Lilly broke up with me," Logan muttered, turning his back towards his dad.

"You're fourteen, quit acting like it's a tragedy. She looks like cheap trash half the time, anyway."

"Don't talk about her like that, dad," Logan muttered, knowing it was useless, as his dad just chuckled and walked back out-"...Ten million? Wow, that's a real letdown..."

Logan rolled his eyes and went to his computer, opening back up that picture. He printed it out and saved it in a folder then went to his closet.

Logan wasn't naiive enough to think that his dad was faithful to Lynn all the time. As Lynn drank more and more, Logan figured that she was figuring out Aaron's lies. But Logan didn't talk to his mother about his father, at all.

So he kept a folder. He had kept a folder since the day after his father trashed his room. Every time the phone rang, Logan quietly picked up an extension and waited to hear the key words "...Oh, baby, I miss you too..." before he documented it. It was stupid, he knew. It wasn't anything useful, really. It just helped him release his anger against his dad.

The folder, coincidentally, hadn't been messed with in a month, as it had been a month since Aaron had popped Logan over the head for not eating his fifty-dollar seafood meal.

Logan slipped the picture in between pages. One day, he promised himself that he'd get back at Aaron. He couldn't do anything now. The few times he dared to raise his voice against his dad left his head spinning for hours. He knew he was a wuss. And he hated that everyone-even Lilly-thought it was so cool to have AARON ECHOLLS as your father.

It wasn't amazing. Logan did like being a movie star's son when he was to young to do anything embarassing in public. His dad, of course, kept every magazine that he had ever been featured in, and one day Logan had gone through them. Ones from when he was three and four showed a much happier family. Logan staring happily at his dad. Trina holding Logan. Lynn and Aaron snuggling rather than limly holding hands as they did now.

"Show buisness sucks," Logan mumbled as he put the folder away.

* * *

Hmm hope you guys liked. I think I'm gonna move it along a bit now since it feels like I'm starting to repeat stuff. Make sure to review and tell me any suggestions you have :) 


	16. Chapter 16

**An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter 16**

**Previous Chapter**: Logan finds a picture that he took of Aaron in bed with another lady and hid it. Lilly breaks up with him.

**Author's note**: I'm keeping everybody's suggestions in mind. If anyone wants to see something, just tell me :) Sorry it's been so long! I'm trying to move it along to when "everything" happens, but I'm also not trying to rush it. I've been err...brainstorming? hehe 3

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Duncan convinced a very mopey Logan to go to a party with him. "Donut, repeat after me: me no party. Leave me alone, seriously," Logan had snapped.

"My sister is not worth this, Logan. Just come on, it's suppose to be amazing."

"If I go, will you leave me the hell alone?"

"Why would I keep bothering you about a party if you go?"

"Point proven. Fine. But if she's there, I'm leaving."

* * *

So that was how Duncan and Logan had arrived at Dick and Beaver's house. Their dad had gone to some banquet, as had many of the 09'ers parents. "Suup Nut," Dick greeted them, pushing Beaver out of the way. "I'm so going to score tonight. Madison Sinclair is looking especially trashy tonight. Wish me luck. Hey Madison, come here baaaaby!"

Logan shook his head, but he had to admit that he was amused. He looked around and saw Veronica talking to somebody. He started to wave but she made eye contact with him and turned around. "She's such a bitch," he said angrily.

"Who?" Duncan asked, looking around.

"No one," he mumbled and started walking around.

"Here, Logan," someone called and threw him a beer.

"Hey, Logan," Shelly Pomroy said behind him as Logan began drinking. He barely acknowledged her as he scoured the room for Lilly.

"Hi, Shelly," he finally responded as she continued to grin stupidly at him, barely able to stand up. Logan suddenly felt himself pulled aside and came face to face with Dick.

"Dude, what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm just making sure someone's not here," Logan responded, realizing his pathetic he sounded.

"Okay, that's it, Logan, you are not married. Who gives a shit if she's here or not? You're not with her! Do whatever your free will tells you. And Shelly's free, drunk air is telling me that she wants in your pants. So be a man and get her," Dick rambled, shoving Logan back to Shelly.

An hour later, Shelly and Logan emerged from a guest room upstairs. Dick flashed him a thumbs-up sign and Logan smiled meekly.

Then Lilly walked by. "Logan?" she exclaimed. He acted like he couldn't hear her as he quickly walked back downstairs and out the back doors to the pool area.

He heard the door slide open and close and figured it was Lilly. "I really don't feel like talking to you," he snapped, taking a huge drink of his beer before turning around.

It was Veronica.

"Oh. Hi."

Logan went to lay down in a lawn chair. He and Veronica hadn't been as close as before. He guess he knew why-loyalty to your best friend came first before loyalty to your best friend's ex-boy friend.

"Why did we never talk about that day?" He blurted out.

"What day?"

"When we kissed. In my guesthouse."

"God, Logan, I thought it was pretty self-explanatory. A few weeks later, you were going out with my best friend. What should I have done? It's not like we ever hang out seperately."

"A few weeks in between, Veronica. You told them nothing happened like it meant nothing-"

"It didn't! And anyway, Lillly suspected something, I know she did. Lilly's not someone you play with. You know that."

"It didn't mean anything? Then why did you do it?"

"We were playing around. I thought you knew all of this. I haven't been avoiding you, Logan."

"No, you've just been busy telling Lilly my play-by-plays."

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" veronica exclaimed angrily, jumping up from the end of the chair.

"Duncan told me that you told Lilly that I made out with some girl last weekend."

"Correction. One of Lilly's friends named Veronica told her. You don't make yourself very secretive."

"We're broken up. She's not my boss. She's probably fucked as many people as I've made out with."

"You just spent an hour with Shelly Pomroy. Might want to check yourself," Veronica sneered, "Lilly's not a slut. She's OUR friend."

"I didn't have sex with her. We made out and she wanted to go further and I wouldn't let her. That's what we did for an hour. Make sure you tell Lilly," Logan sneered back as Veronica walked away.

"Grow up Logan!"

He watched her walk inside. "Grow up Logan!" he mocked her, rolling her eyes.

* * *

Logan sat up suddenly. Had he really fallen asleep? It had been sunset when he had his fight with Veronica. It was dark now; very dark. And cold. There was no noise coming from the Casablancas house, though he could see the forms of bodies crashed onto the floor.

He had a headache, and knew that it was either non-existent sinuses or the beginnings of a weak hangover. He couldn't have dranken that much in the hour and a half he was actually at the party, an hour of that having been spent in a bedroom.

He checked his cell phone. Five missed calls from his dad. This was going to be lovely. It was also three in the morning, according to his phone.

"Shit," he muttered and went inside Dick's house. He finally called his father after looking around, knowing that there was no one here he would be able to get a ride from.

The phone rang seven or eight times before Logan went to end the call, but then a muffled "Hello?" came from the end.

"Um...Hi dad..."

"Where the hell are you?"

"D-Dick's house, dad..."

"It's four AM. You couldn't have called me before now? Your mom has been up worried sick!"

_What about you, dad?_

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, dad. I fell asleep-"

"You were drinking. I know no one was home. Dick's dad was at the same place I was. I also know that he wasn't going home tonight. I swear to God, if you're drunk-"

"I'm not drunk! I just came here with Duncan, we didn't drink-"

"Get home. Now. I'll be waiting for you. This is April, Logan. It'd be a bad time to get grounded. Right before summer? You better be here in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes? Dad, we live like three miles away, you can't come get me?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Damnit!" Logan yelled angrily, adding "Shut the fuck up!" when a couple of guys stirred long enough to tell him to shut up.

As he began jogging outside, he wandered if it was worth it to even try to make it in fifteen minutes and knew that it wasn't. It took him around seven or eight minutes to run a mile, on a really good day. And he didn't think running at four AM after drinking a few beers qualified as "a good day".

He was gasping for breath after the first mile and looked at his phone and saw that nine minutes had already passed. _I hate you, dad. I really do. I wish-_

Logan was startled to see a police cruiser creeping along beside him. "Need a ride, Logan?" It was Mr. Mars. Sheriff Mars. Veronica's dad. Either way you put it, he was more than likely going to wonder what a fourteen-year-old was doing this late.

"Er, sure, Mr. Mars."

All things considered-mostly that his breath was stale with beer and he had just fought with the man's daughter-the ride was relatively comfortable.

"So what are you doing out this late, Logan?" Mr. Mars wondered nonchalantly, about a mile into the trip, and two minutes away from Logan's grounding.

"Oh you know, Mr. Mars. The usual. I couldn't sleep, wanted a little run. I don't keep this condition by eating donuts and reading the newspaper. No offense, or anything," Logan smiled broadly, motioning towards the nearly empty donut box on Keith's dashboard.

"None taken. I don't keep this condition that way either. No, it's coffee and cookies for me. Never was one for the newspaper-"

"Mr. Mars, if you wouldn't mind gunning it, I kind of have to be home in about thirty seconds," Logan interrupted.

"Thirty seconds, huh?" He remarked as he pulled into the Echolls' driveway. "A gate. How warming. Alright, Logan, I guess I'll let you out here. Do you need me to shine the lights on the house until you get there?"

"I think I can handle it, sheriff, but thanks." Logan got out of the car and stretched. He knew from experience that the back seat was cramped (who knew stealing road signs would get Deputy Lamb THAT upset?) but he figured the front would be a little roomy.

Keith nodded his head and backed out of the driveway and Logan called out, "Thanks again, Mr. Mars."

And began jogging up his driveway, just as the front porch's light flickered on.


	17. Chapter 17

**An Echolls Family Truth**

Wow it's been forever. I'm sorry! I don't believe they ever said Trina's age so I'm going to put her at four years older than Logan, making her a senior in high school at this point.

**Past Chapter**: Logan accidently comes home very late on the night of Dick's party, with Sheriff Mars dropping him off.

* * *

Logan held his breath as he neared the door. The door flung open, causing him to retreat.

"Get your ass in here and don't make a peep," Trina said forcefully. "I told dad that I was suppose to pick you up but I forgot. He went back to sleep."

He stared at his sister, wandering if it was a trick and his dad was going to be waiting in his room.

"Uh...Thanks, Trina..." Logan stared at her.

"What?" She snapped.

"Nothing. Night," Logan said and begin walking upstairs.

When he got to his room, he quickly closed his door and locked it, taking off the shirt that had become soaked in sweat due to nerves. He went to flop on his bed, but saw a note.

"In return- the crawlspace connected to my room needs to be clean (it's not really sealed off, just tug a little); and here is $150 to pay my speeding ticket. You must tell Lamb to kiss my ass. thanks, baby brother!"

Logan rolled his eyes. At least his sister was back to normal. Those two minutes she had been nice, had been more than a little weird.

* * *

A couple of months later, the first day of ninth grade, Logan was sitting on one of the round yellow tables outside. Mr. Kane had dropped him, Duncan and Lily off.

"Let me see your schedule, baby," Logan asked Lily, kissing her forehead. Duncan grimaced. He had practically begged Logan not to get back with Lily last week, when she had called him up apologetic of her 'recent behavior'. But Logan, forgetting that Lily had only dumped him for his age, readily acccepted her back.

"Well aren't you smart. English 2, Algebra 2, Chemistry, Honors world history, Spanish and Home ec. Home ec? What the hell?" Logan read her schedule.

"An easy 'A', Logan. You should've been smart enough to do that instead of trying to impress your daddy. Same for Duncan. You two are perfect together," she said, taking his schedule. "Honors English, Honors world geography, Spanish, Honors Geometry, Honors Biology, Health. Good luck, Logan." She snatched the piece of paper out of Duncan's hand then smirked. "I see daddy had some talking to. Or is it a coincidence you'll have the exact same schedule...Three years in a row..." she cocked her head to the side and pretended to be amazed. "Now if Ronnie and Little Dick have the same schedule, we'll have a big mystery on our hands."

"Funny, Lily. Anyways, Logan, did you do the summer assignments?" Duncan asked, sneering at his older sister.

"I'm going to go with a hell no. What summer assignments?"

"The ones for honors english...bio...Wow, okay. Um, they sent home a package about it?"

"I didn't get any mail. Unless a rabid fan got a hold of it or something," Logan half-joked, remembering how fans were willing to jump the wrought iron gate to get a piece of Aaron Echolls' mail.

"Oh, your teacher will believe that. 'But Mrs. Burke, the fan stole my homework!' The life of a movie star must be tough, Logan," Lily sniggered.

"Shut the hell up, Lily, God," Logan snapped. "Having daddy hand everything to you must be rough, too."

"Someone's snippy today!" Veronica chirped, walking up to them. Her and Lily hugged and then she smiled at Duncan. Logan stared at Duncan as he grinned back. He knew that they liked eachother, and had for the past few months, but they were both too stupid to ask eachother out.

"Logan Echolls? Just who I've been looking for," came a booming voice from behind the group. Logan turned around and saw that it was the vice principals, Mr. Clemmons. He smirked because he knew what it was about-the same thing was said to him the first day of every new school.

"Vice Principal Clemmons, you're just the person I'VE been looking for. Nice to meet you, sir. My mother requested me give you these brownies," Logan smiled broadly, handing him a sandwich baggie full of brownies.

"Wow, these are from Lynn? How sweet. I'm sure you'll love the school. Miss Kane, I trust you'll have a better year?"

"Of course. This year I'll wait a couple of weeks before I come visit you," Lilly retorted.

"I'm sure. And this must be Duncan. And you are...?" Clemmons asked Veronica.

"Veronica. Veronica Mars," Veronica replied.

"Ahh, Sheriff Mars' daughter. I'm sure we won't have any trouble out of you, then."

He walked off and Logan burst out laughing.

"Your mom made the principal brownies? That's worse than when mommy dearest sent roses to the teacher who was failing me," Lily said, wincing at the memory.

"Don't be stupid. My mom doesn't cook. He's lucky she didn't make him. I made them. They have a special ingredient," Logan rubbed his hands together and cackled. "I love myself!"

"What's the special ingredient?" Duncan asked cautiously.

"It's a laxative," Logan said innocently.

"Oh, my God, Logan!" They all laughed.

* * *

Sure enough, between Logan's 2nd period World Geography and 3rd period Spanish, his name was called over the intercom 2 or 3 times.

"Logan, they're calling you up there," Lily told him as she grabbed his hand in the hallway.

"I know. I'm choosing to ignore it. I could always feign mental illness," Logan said, and as his name came back over the intercom, he dropped to his knees and clawed his hair. "When will the voices stop?!" He cried.

"Logan! Get your ass up! You're embarassing me!" Lily was blushing as he stood back up, waving at his little audience.

"Just go up there. They will keep calling your name."

"Oh fine, ruin my fun," he whined. After a kiss on the forehead, Logan headed to the principal's office. His first of many visits.

"Logan, have a seat. What the heck was in those brownies?" Clemmons roared, his face red and sweaty.

"Sir, I don't know! My mom made them."

Clemmons' stomach gurgled loudly and he sat down and clenched it.

"My mom's not a very good cook. I probably should've told you that, sir. I'm extremely sorry. Last week, she made a tuna casserole that breathed. Literally," Logan shuddered.

"Look, if I find out that you did anything-Oh, God, I can't continue this conversation. Just go to your next class. Don't make this a habit!" Clemmons mumbled as he ran towards his bathroom again.

Logan grimaced as the door slammed shut and he heard the beginnings of the gift that just kept giving. He grabbed the apple off of Clemmons desk, and walked back out.

It was going to be a great year.


	18. Chapter 18

**An Echolls Family Truth, chapter 18**

This story has gotten really long, so I'm going to skip Logan's freshman year. I want to go to where the show started at. We saw all the events from Veronica's POV, and now it's Logan's turn :)

**Recap**: Trina sticks up for Logan and lies for him; Logan, Veronica, Duncan and Lilly started high school, with Logan getting off on the wrong foot with VP Clemmons.

* * *

The weeks and months flew by of Logan's freshman year, until it was the day before his sophomore year. Lilly and him broke up various times, and Duncan and Veronica got together. And, like Logan could have predicted, hadn't had one cross word with eachother.

Things at home were actually going well. Aaron wasn't home often, he had shot two movies in the past year. He had also been helping Trina get her "career" going.

"How's your sister doing?" Lilly asked him over the phone.

"Um, I haven't seen her since December. She was between shoots," Logan answered, grinning to himself.

"Oh, wow. I didn't know she landed any jobs. What is she in?"

"She was between playing 'smiling teenager' in the toothpaste commercial, and 'smelly girl' in the deoderant commercial. I have faith in her, though."

"Logan, you can be such an ass sometimes. Do you remember all the times she's picked you up from parties?"

"Lilly, do you remember all the times that I've stood up for her, lied for her, just to be stabbed in the back when the going gets rough?"

"Whatever, Logan. Soo it's 6 weeks!"

"Six weeks to what, my dear?" Logan scrawled out a summary to the book Big Mouth, Ugly Girl at a sad attempt at last-minute summer work. If worse came to worse-or, Lilly kept him on the phone until midnight-there was always Duncan. It was Duncan's fault, anyway, for having such a talkative sister.

"Your party, Logan, god! Where are your parents going?"

"Hmmm. Nepal, I think. I'm being left in the care of a non-English speaking worker who would die at a chance for two weeks off. And that, they shall get. While mommy and daddy kayak in the calm waters-"

"You will be yakking into the toilet waters. Just make it to the bathroom this time, Logan."

"Sure thing. Hey, can I come over tomorrow? After school?" Logan reached subconciously for the box that held Lilly's gift.

"That should be okay. Dad is out on business and Celeste gets waxed on Mondays. Why?"

"Nothing...Just gotta talk. I better go. Dad's getting home tonight and he loves a big family greeting," Logan said through gritted teeth. "And there's a camera following him around. Apparently '24 Hours with Aaron Echolls' sounded like a good idea."

"Okay, baby. I love you."

Logan returned the sentiment and hung up. He made sure he was presentable. It was ten o'clock at night, and most parents would encourage their child to go to bed, but he had a reputation to protect.

And it never was his own.

He heard the door open and he winked at his reflection before going downstairs. "Hey, dad!" He greeted his father as Lynn hugged him ecstatically.

"Hey, Logan!" Aaron hugged his son roughly, before holding him back and looking him over. "Looking sharp, buddy," he poked him in the ribs.

"As I'm sure many of you know," Aaron started as the cameras clicked away, "this is my son Logan. He's going to be a sophomore tomorrow!"

After a few minutes of the cameras following him around the house, with one particularly endearing shot of Aaron playing with the dog (Logan discreetly offered his father the dog's name). "And this concludes twenty-four hours with Aaron Echolls. Have a wonderful day, everyone!" Aaron said cheerfully as the camera crew packed up and left.

Logan sat at the bar eating an apple as his father came back in with Lynn beside him.

"Thanks, Logan. You behaved very nicely."

"Like a good little boy? Do I get a toy, dad?" Logan smiled a little bit to show his dad that he was just playing, but Aaron still narrowed his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" He demanded. "Long day ahead. Another wonderful year full of broken promises to do better, trips to the principal's office, and me saving your ass."

"Like I saved your ass just a second ago? You didn't even know the name of the dog!" Logan snapped back angrily.

"Logan-" Lynn started but Aaron interjected and grabbed Logan's arm, bringing them face-to-face.

"You're getting a bit to ballsy there, son. Just remember that I control everything you do and have. This, is all from me, and don't forget it," Aaron smirked, sweeping his arm around the large kitchen.

Logan nodded and walked upstairs. "You don't let anyone forget it, dad," he said softly, knowing that it wasn't the time to push it.

* * *

The next day after school, after Lilly had dropped Veronica and Duncan off at the Kane house, she took Logan to the local park.

"Our tax dollars at work," Logan said, kicking a piece of trash.

They sat at a bunch and Logan reached into his pocket. He gave her the blue, velvety box and grinned as she snapped it open and squealed.

"It's so pretty, Logan! What's it for?" She asked, turning around a little so Logan could clip the necklace around her neck.

"Well, homecoming is in a few weeks, and I just wanted to ask you the right way. I know that you're into that...girly, romantic stuff," he grinned at her and put his arm around her shoulder. "And just to say I love you."

"Of course I'll go. Now I can officially go dress shopping and stuff. But Logan, you don't have to do stuff like this all the time."

Logan waved the thought away. He knew differently; he knew that all was right in the Echolls household after his dad had just bought another timeshare in foreign land or given Logan a new credit card.

"What's that, Logan?" Lilly asked after a couple of moments, pointing to the thumb-sized bruise just above his elbow.

"Your brother. We were wrestling in the pool," Logan lied.

"Manly men. I love it," she stood up and sat on his lap, kissing him. "I have to go home," she said regrettably.

"Why? We've only been out for a few minutes!"

"I know, but you know Celeste. She's going to want to ask how my day at school has been. And I just can't wait to share the news!"

"What news? That we're going to homecoming together?"

"No, silly, that this is an engagement necklace. She pissed me off yesterday, it's payback," she smiled evilly, planting another kiss on his cheek and jumped up. "Come on, you won't want to miss this. We'll hide you in the closet in case daddy is there and is within the distance of any sharp objects."


	19. Chapter 19

**An Echolls Family Truth, chapter 19  
**

**A/N:** Sup guys. I'm so sad, all my friends are moving away. I'm moving out Saturday and start college Monday. Eek! Also, I'm trying not to rush the story, but to me writing about like homecoming and the stuff we saw, is boring...I can't wait to get until after Lilly dies and stuff. Wow, that sounds wrong haha

**Previous chapter:** Logan asks Lilly to the homecoming dance.

* * *

Logan, Lilly, Duncan and Veronica spent the next few weeks planning for homecoming. It was moreso Logan, Lilly and Duncan though-Veronica was still working on her father even letting her go.

Just a week before the dance, Lilly ran into Duncan's room, where he and Logan were playing video games.

"Oh, hey, baby I didn't even know you were home," Logan lied, grinning at her.

"Yeah, whatever. ANyway, look at this," she said and threw an ad onto Duncan's bed. It was an ad for a limo service, one that would 'gurantee a fun and private time' with 'absolutely no questions asked'.

"Why yes, this would be good for the 5 minute trip to the Neptune Grand, but we already have one, Lilly," Duncan reminded her.

"Yes, we have daddy's driver taking us strictly to the Neptune Grand. But this, could be our ticket out of the lame dance and to some real fun. Just the four of us."

"Isn't the point of us spending hundreds of dollars on tickets and tuxes and dresses, so we could go to the dance?" Logan pointed out, motioning towards the necklace he bought her, that she hadn't taken off since.

"It'll be so much funner just riding around in a limo, and so much more romantic. Sipping on wine..." Lilly trailed off, grinning.

"Alcohol? Okay, okay, you convinced me," Logan smirked, kissing her on the forehead.

"What about you, baby brother?"

Duncan shrugged. "Veronica is really excited about the dance. Not to mention, her father..."

"Ronnie will want to."

* * *

It took convincing from Lilly (or more like slight ribbing about 'taking chances') but Veronica agreed to the limo trip. Her father dropped her off at the Kane house just as Aaron was dropping Logan off.

"Thanks for letting me use your tux, dad," Logan told him as they pulled into the driveway. Aaron parked and reached over to adjust Logan's tie.

"Don't get anything on it, it's my favorite," Aaron replied, straightening back up.

"Have fun, Logan. But don't be stupid. I'm gonna get out with you and say hey to Jake and Celeste."

Logan inwardly groaned as they neared the front door.

"Now, now, Logan, don't tell me you're ashamed of your old man?" Aaron snickered out of the end of his mouth as Jake opened the door and greeted them with a boisterous, "Aaron and co! How great!"

Logan looked at his dad as Aaron and Jake struck up a conversaation about business. It was moments like these, when they just did the normal father/son thing, without Aaron the Movie Star present, when Logan easily thought about the Jekyll that came with this Clyde.

"Logan, you look very handsome," Celeste said.

"And you're looking particularly dashing tonight, Mrs. Kane," Logan answered back, resisting the urge to bow.

From behind them Veronica scooted in slowly.

"Wow. You look...amazing," Logan told her, trying to act non-chalant. "Your girlfriend roped me into this. I wanted a nice simple...But nooo," Veronica grimaced.

"Lilly probably just wanted to bring out your...features, dear," Celeste remarked, which was probably as amicable as she was going to get.

When Celeste had turned back to Jake and Aaron, Veronica made a face at Logan, silently mimicking Celeste. The pair seperated themselves from the gossiping parents and Duncan joined them.

"Hey, baby. Excited?" Veronica and him kissed and then Veronica nodded. "I just got the 'Veronica, back so soon?' look from your mother. I think she almost managed a compliment, though."

"Don't worry about her. Jesus Christ, what the heck is taking Lilly so long?" He mumbled.

"You really can't wait to get to that DANCE, can you?" Veronica winked.

Finally, after keeping everyone standing around for a good five or ten minutes, Lilly made her grand entrance.

Logan sucked in his breath and grinned at her. She accepted compliments from all sides ("Honey, you're gorgeous, but enough with the cleavage," from Celeste; "My baby girl is growing up," from Jake; "Wow, Lilly, you sure are stunning," from Aaron) before finally nearing her friends for the photo shoot.

The photos were finally done and Aaron had left, leaving Celeste to bark out orders.

"Be back by midnight. No drinking. Lilly, for the love of God, behave."

"Midnight? Mom, that's completely unreasonable, the dance doesn't even end until 11:30!"

"Mom, can you please make it later?" Duncan chimed in.

Celeste eyeballed Lilly and then Jake, who shrugged. "My parents didn't make me come home until two on homecoming night," he said, and Lilly squealed and hugged him.

"Okay well, our limo is out front...So good-night," Lilly rushed on before her mother could get another word in.

When a few miles distance had been put in between the Kane home and the limo, Lilly opened the window seperating them from the driver. "Drive us down the PCH until we say stop," she instructed.

They stopped a few times along the coast. Once for a nearly-drunk Logan to pee; once for Logan to attack Duncan for getting alcohol on his dad's tux, for a drunken game of "I've Never..." and a couple of times just to walk in the water, and to dance.

At around three-thirty, the driver opened the window that seperated him and the teens. "I'm now four hours along the PCH, so I'm going to turn back. Is that okay?" His only response was a slow nod from Duncan. The four had passed out in eachother's arms; Lilly and Veronica's legs were overlapping as they each rested their heads in Duncan or Logan's laps.

They awoke with a start as the limo stopped moving. The guy punched in the code Lilly had given him the day before-perhaps recklessly-and the limo creeped up the Kane driveway. Lilly groaned as she pointed out the policemen standing around.

"No way. No way. Your mom does hate me. One of those guys is my dad!" Veronica moaned.

They stumbled out and faced Mr. and Mrs. Kane, and Mr. Mars. Logan silently thanked his lucky stars that his dad hadn't been called.

After witnessing the brief exchange between the Kanes, and an awkard kiss from Lilly, Logan nodded as Mr. Mars offered him a ride home.

Veronica sat in front and Logan got in back.

"You know Logan, you're making this a regular occurrence. I might start charging you rent," Keith joked.

Logan was to tired to respond, and heard the beginnings of Veronica and Keith's words.

When they got to the Echolls house, Logan saw his dad waiting.

And this time there was no Trina, who was gone God knows where, to save him.


	20. Chapter 20

An Echolls Family Truth, chapter 20

Heyyy. So college is going good. Just a ton of work, sheesh. Though procrastination on my part is finally beginning to cease. We'll see, haha.

**Previous chapter**: The gang went to homecoming, and we left off at Keith dropping Logan off at his house.

* * *

Logan took a deep breath before entering the house, formulating a story that hopefully Aaron wouldn't bother checking. He walked to the kitchen, where Aaron and Lynn were sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Where the hell have you been?" Aaron demanded, standing up.

"Dad, we got back really late, and the Kanes were already sleeping. I figured you guys would be sleeping," Logan lied.

"We told you. Call us. Call us when you get back. What about that don't you understand, Logan?" Aaron was now an inch away from Logan's face, and Logan stepped back. "I didn't say you could move!" Logan stumbled into the counter as Aaron stepped forward again.

"If I had called at 2 in the morning you would've been pissed, dad!" Logan exclaimed.

"Don't tell me what I would've done. You are my son. You aren't old enough to decide when the hell to come home. You're fifteen-years-old and you think you're a grown man. So, since you think I'm grown, we're going to treat you like you're grown," Aaron smirked.

Logan stole a glance at his mom, who was staring back blankly. "What are you talking about?"

"The help's been given a month off. You will do all the work now. That includes adding on to the garage. Every single item of clothes that has been bought for you, is going to be taken away. You'll pay me to eat. Since you're a real man. This is real life, Logan," Aaron accented certain words, thumping Logan in the chest.

"You can't-" Aaron shoved Logan to the floor. "I can do whatever the hell I want, Logan. I can make you flap your wings and jump off the god damn roof if I really wanted to. You're about that worthless. So yes, you will do this. You will do this for the next month, even when we leave in a few days."

Logan stared back at him, swallowing back everything that he wanted to say so badly to his dad. Aaron stalked off, and as Logan picked himself up off the ground he stared at his mom. "You know better," was all she managed to stutter out, standing up and walking out to the backyard.

He heard his dad walk upstairs and rather than making a left towards his parents' room, he took a right and Logan knew just what he was doing. He ran up the stairs and got to his room the same time his dad did. His dad walked straight into Logan's closet and, clutching two trash bags in his hand, begin thoughtlessly ripping down clothes off hangers.

"You're not even looking! Dad, stop!" Logan yelled.

"Pick those up and put them in the bag," Aaron snapped, pushing Logan away from him. By the time he was done, Logan had a couple of shirts left and one pair of jeans. Aaron stood over Logan as he slowly stuffed the bags. When he was finished, Aaron handed him a few sheets of paper. "The things I want done by the time we leave. That's three days. Then there's going to be lists of stuff that needs to be done while we're gone."

Aaron took the bags and left his room, leaving Logan to almost laugh at the list. Completely cleaning out all seven of the family's cars topped the list, while a page and a half later, detailed information on cleaning the six bathrooms closed it out.

Logan shook his head and locked his door. He was tired, too tired to even think about beginning that stupid list. Plus he'd have the next 2 days, and whatever day was left when he woke up.

* * *

Three days later, Logan had completely finished the list by Monday night. He knew that his dad didn't expect him to finish it, and he felt good when he entered their bedroom as they finished packing, ready to make the midnight flight out.

"I'm done," Logan announced.

"No, you're done with the first list," Aaron said simply, nodding towards a dresser where Logan saw another list. "Two weeks. Shouldn't be to hard."

"Am I going to be here by myself? Where's Trina?"

"Trina's staying in Los Angeles with some friends for a little while, she's at an acting school. I told you, everyone's been given a month off so that you can't take advantage of them."

Logan had to fight hard to neither roll his eyes or rub his hands together with glee. He went downstairs to cook himself some food-his parents had already enjoyed a meal by Mercedez, who still came three times a day to make sure his parents were well fed-after giving his dad five dollars.

As he was cleaning up his mess, his parents came downstairs. "We're leaving, Logan. You better be good," Aaron commanded. Logan hugged his mom tightly and awkwardly hugged his father and waved them off.

Now, he had planning to do.

For the first time in three days, he could relax. He swung himself on the couch and turned on the TV. After five minutes of flipping through channels, he settled on re-runs of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, then his cell phone went off.

"Logan. Hi," Duncan said flatly.

"Err, hey Duncan. What's up? Why weren't you in school today?"

"Sick. Listen, I think I'm going to break up with Veronica."

"What? Why? You guys never even fight!"

"I just am. It's not the same. I don't want to be in a relationship anymore. I haven't told her yet, so don't mention it to Lilly."

"Dude, I'm sorry. Are you going to be at school tomorrow?"

"Have to. You know how my parents are. There's no way I'll go to college if I miss school," Duncan mumbled sarcastically.

"When are you going to tell her, then?"

"I don't know. I don't know how to. I'll think about it. Bye, Logan."

Duncan hung up without waiting for a reponse. Logan sighed and turned off the TV, and called Lilly.

"Hey. Is your brother okay?"

"I don't know. Ask him yourself," Lilly said, talking loudly over whatever background noise was pulsating behind her.

"Where are you?"

"At Kyle and Maggie's house. Is that okay?" She asked sarcastically.

"You haven't even made an attempt to hang out since Saturday morning, Lilly. I've tried calling you and you haven't answered."

"I was grounded, Logan, for the love of God!"

"So the first person you go to after you've been un-grounded is Kyle's house?"

"Yeah, kinda like how you'd run to my brother. Are you having an affair with my brother, Logan? This jealuosy thing is really over rated."

"Fuck you, Lilly. I was just asking a question." But Lilly had already hung up and Logan threw his phone down in frusteration.

At least he had his party to look forward to, in a week and a half. And two weeks without his dad.

* * *

I'd say another chapter and after that will be the exciting stuff :) 


	21. Chapter 21

**An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter Twenty-One**

**Sorry for such a long delay. I suck, I know :( You guys are great reviewers though so keep it up!**

* * *

Logan spent his free days lounging around after school. He would do one of the chores every few hours. The list was just as stupid as the other had been. He was suppose to go through his parents closet, and Trina's closet, to make sure none of the clothes had wrinkles, and if they did, to iron them. He was to wash all the linen on all of the beds, including the guest bedrooms. The list went on and on like that, him doing chores basically for his father and Trina.

When he wasn't doing chores or watching TV in the living room, he was at Duncan's house. A couple of days after he had broken up with Veronica, he had completely freaked out and Logan had walked in on him attacking his father. After Logan had pried the two apart-Duncan had taken a couple of swipes at Logan, but Logan was use to dodging hits, anyway-Mr. Kane had pushed Logan back out of the bedroom and Logan heard the two talking.

Then, nothing. No discussion. Duncan didn't even acknowledge that he had tried to punch Logan, or that he had nearly killed his father. Mr. Kane never met Logan in the eye and tried to explain the incident.

So Logan didn't mention it. He knew about family secrets-his entire life was a "family secret".

The couple of days that Lilly wasn't pissed at Logan or Logan wasn't pissed at Lilly, she used her fake ID to buy alcohol for his party. He had lost track of the number of people who had confirmed that they would be there, but he told them to try to bring their own alcohol. But he bought a few dozen beers, a few dozen wine coolers, and a couple of liters of vodka. His parties were notorious and he wanted it to be the best yet.

The day of his party, he met Lilly at her locker. "What time you wanna meet up tonight?" He asked.

"What? For what?" She asked, distracted as she put books in her locker.

"Are you serious? My party, Lilly. The one that you bought all that alcohol for. The one I have every year."

"Oh. Yeah I'll be there. Listen, I have to go," she said, standing on her tip-toes to kiss his cheek. She was looking around anxiously, but Logan noticed her eyes light up as she looked across the hallway. By the time he could turn around to look, no one was standing there.

"Text me what time," he called after her.

Duncan met up with him on their way home. They decided to walk to Logan's house to get ready.

He had big bags of ice in their freezer, and three different, fancy coolers to store stuff in. He had bought ten bags of chips and had them in big bowls. It was one of the perks of being a celebrity kid-more specifically, a celebrity kid of a woman who loved to throw lavish parties.

He brought his CD collection downstairs and re-wired the surround sound to the TV since it went louder than the actual stereo system.

"This is going to be so awesome," he said excitedly as people began showing up around eight that night. By nine, there were easily over a hundred kids, and by ten, over two hundred.

Logan stepped outside and called Lilly after he looked from room-to-room and couldn't find her.

"Baby, where are you? The party started two hours ago," he shouted over the noise.

"Oh. Logan, I really don't feel good. I'm sorry, sweetie!" Logan's eyes narrowed as he heard a giggle in the background.

"Right," he said and hung up. She was such a bitch! People had been telling Logan that she fooled around for two years and any time he had confronted her about it, she laughed in his face and took the next three weeks to kiss up to him. He fully realized this was a cycle but Lilly was one of the few constants in his life, and he felt like, in a strange way, he needed her.

Still angry, he went inside and grabbed a Smirnoff. Truth be told, he had never particularly liked beer even though he had gotten wasted off it enough times. He went upstairs and sat down, fuming. He slowly sipped on the drink, silently cursing Lilly for making him miserable at his own party.

One of the newest kids at Neptune-Yolanda-stumbled onto his lap. Her breath reeked of alcohol and he almost couldn't stand it.

"Hey, baby," she slurred, rubbing his chest.

"Oh, um, hey Yolanda. How are you?" He asked.

"You know you throw some great parties, cutie."

"Thanks. I think so too!" He exclaimed, finishing his drink off and dropping the bottle onto the ground. He then took hers that she was holding-it was some vodka mix-and drank it as well.

"You're so silly," she told him. Before he could react, she was kissing him-a wet, slobbery kiss that only drunks knew how to do.

He pulled away. "I think you've had enough, Yolanda," he said, standing up and pulling her across the room. He laid her down on the couch. "Now don't puke or my dad will beat my ass."

Before he had even turned around, she was passed out. He shook his head and headed back downstairs, feeling better.

His night would last for many more hours, and he would have many more drinks before he finally passed out near the pool.

* * *

Over that weekend, he spent his time recovering from his massive hangover and cleaning up. Duncan helped him, and five trash bags later, the house was back in good shape.

"No one even threw up this year except in the toilets. I really think we're perfecting this teenage alcoholism thing, dude," Logan said, poking Duncan in the ribs. He had been one of the ones, in the years before, to puke on the carpets.

"We do have some amazing friends," Duncan said, and the two laughed.

They sat down to watch TV and both opened one of the dozen or so wine coolers that had been left over. As they were sipping it and watching TV, Duncan looked at Logan.

"Tell me something, Logan."

"What?"

"How do you like your dad?"

Logan was taken back, and stole a look at his friend. He wasn't sure if Duncan had ever seen Aaron explode. He was fairly certain that he hadn't, because Aaron was very careful about his temper and where he allowed punishment to happen. Sometimes Aaron would scream at Logan, but he was pretty sure that he had never hit him with Duncan around.

"You know. We get along good. It's fun. He does his thing and I do mine," Logan answered.

Duncan was quiet for a moment. "You know, you can tell me anything, Logan."

"Don't go getting Oprah on me, Duncan. There's nothing to tell. My dad is Aaron Echolls, the superstar! What isn't there to love?" He realized that the last part had come out probably sounding bitterer than he had intended.

"The way your dad yells at you sometimes, that's not right. My dad doesn't scream at me like that. Not over something stupid."

"Not everyone can be a member of the Brady Bunch," Logan snapped. "What? You want me to tell you some dirty lies? My dad beats the hell out of me sometimes. And sometimes if I'm extra bad, he'll beat me until I can't walk anymore. It hurts so bad. Won't you save me, Duncan? Is that what you want?"

"No! Shut up. That's not what I was saying. Fuck, Logan, I just wanted to let you know that you can tell me anything."

Logan rolled his eyes and didn't answer.

"But sometimes I do see bruises on you, you know. And my dad has. I just thought I'd ask. If he does hit you, that's real messed up. You should leave, or call the police, or something."

"The police?" Logan scoffed. He remembered one time; it had been a couple years, that Don Lamb was riding past the Echolls home. Trina had walked into the house and had been greeted by Aaron punching Logan in the face for some infraction—Logan couldn't even remember which. The front door remained open for a moment before Trina had kicked it close, but Logan had looked up, blood streaming from his nose, just as Lamb had passed the house. Their eyes had locked and Logan stared at him, silently pleading with him to stop his car and take away his father forever.

But no such luck, though the next time Lamb had seen Logan he had acted civil with him. He had greeted him with a "What's up, buddy?" Opposed to his usual "What are you up to, Echolls?" with a suspicious glare. And when Logan had stared back as an answer, wanting him to acknowledge that he had seen the Secret and could expose the Secret, Lamb looked away. "Fathers can be assholes. Know what I mean? My dad was." That was the only acknowledgement Logan ever got, and the next time they were near each other, it was back to the normal suspicion.

"I'm just saying, dude. That's shitty of him," Duncan simply said.

After school Monday, Lilly had cornered Logan in one of the more secluded hallways.

"I know what you did Friday," she snapped.

"What'd I do?" He asked, rolling his eyes.

"Veronica told me she saw you kissing that bitch Yolanda!"

"Whoa! Slow the fuck down, Lilly. Yolanda kissed me, and I guess Veronica didn't see what I did three seconds later, when I dragged her to the couch and put her to bed!"

He could see that Lilly was a little taken back, but she quickly recovered.

"We're through Logan. I can't even trust you!"

"You can't trust ME? That's rich. I've had a dozen guys come up to me saying they saw you kissing other guys at different parties. And you weren't sick Friday night, I'm not completely stupid!"

"Logan, you'll never find a girl like me. Ever. And it's over!" And with that, Lilly Kane stormed off.

In a week, she would be dead.

* * *

**Sorry it's so long. Review!!!**


	22. Chapter 22

**An Echolls Family Truth, Chapter Twenty-two**

**I suck at this updating thing. But it's summer now, so hopefully I'll be able to update more!!**

* * *

"I have to go see Lilly," Logan mumbled, shoving his stuff back in his bags.

"Logan, dude, don't be such a bitch. We're leaving tomorrow," Dick said, half-asleep.

They had drove down to Mexico two nights before, along with Beaver. It had been two days of surfing, drinking and various women.

"Shut up. I have to go," Logan said, throwing a pillow at Dick.

"Whatever. No one likes a pussy-whipped dude."

Logan rubbed the shot glass he had bought Lilly and made sure the letter he had spent most of last night writing was in his bag.

"Bye, I'll be back tonight," he said, remembering that he was the only one who brought a car. It would've been easier to force Dick and Beaver to get up and leave then, but he knew the probability of that happening was very little.

Logan spent the car ride debating over what he was going to say to Lilly. He had messed up, but she had messed up more. He didn't want to lose her forever, and if he accused her of anything…He knew that he would have to be the one to apologize, just like it always was.

By the time he got to Neptune, he was nearly falling asleep. It had been an all-nighter between getting back to the hotel late and writing the letter. He knew that Lilly had a carwash for the pep squad.

He drove into the alley across from the car wash and just turned off his car. He stared at the girl that, for two years, had messed with his head yet she was also the first true love of his life.

They had been through everything. He had a sneaking suspicion that she may know about his little family secret. She had commented on the bruises before and had rubbed his sore spots. She had never said anything, had never had to—if Logan knew that she at least knew about it and would be there for him, it was okay.

But as he watched her wash cars, laugh with her friends and flirt with drivers, he got a feeling. He and Lilly would never have a functional relationship. She didn't need him in the same way he needed her. She could have anybody in the world, and she knew it—and Logan wasn't 'anybody'. He may have been the kid of an actor, but at Neptune she could have relatives of major politicians, sons have inventors, sons of other wealthy actors.

She didn't need Logan.

He blinked back tears and stepped out of his car. He went over to the parking lot where he had seen her car. As usual, her windows were down. "No one will fuck with Lilly Kane," she had told him one day when he chastised her for not putting her windows back up.

He put the shot glass and letter in her passenger seat and walked away. After he got back in his car, he started his car up and saw Veronica and Lilly talking.

Veronica.

She was the reason of this latest fight. The bitch was probably just bitter because Duncan had just broken up with her, and now she was trying to ruin Lilly and Logan.

His car roared to life and he took off, knowing that his relationship with Lilly was truly over.

* * *

He got back to Tijuana and Dick and Beaver were back in the water. He got ready and went out to join them.

"What happened with Lilly?" Dick asked once Logan had swum out to where they were sitting on their surf boards.

"Fuck Lilly. I give up. Logan Echolls," Logan started dramatically, "is no bitch!"

"That's my boy," Dick exclaimed. "Fuck women!"

"I think you two have taken care of that this weekend," Beaver said.

"Yeah and I think you haven't. You aren't my brother," Dick said, rolling his eyes.

"Thanks, prick," Beaver mumbled.

"Thanks, prick," Dick mocked him in a high-pitched voice, grabbing the side of Beaver's board and turning it over. He and Logan laughed as Beaver flipped around and ended up in the water, sputtering angrily at his brother.

"Why can't you just let us sit and have fun? You're such an ass!" Beaver snapped, swimming back towards the shore.

"And you're such a little girl!" Dick called after him.

"I guess we should head back," Logan said after they surfed for another hour as Beaver brooded from the shore.

The drive back was mostly quiet, with Beaver still mad at them and Dick exhausted from his alcohol-sex-alcohol-surf-wash, rinse, repeat weekend.

Logan dropped Beaver and Dick off at their house. When he got back to his house, he sat in his car and stared at his house. When they first moved there, he thought it was big and beautiful. Now it was a looming, ugly…He couldn't think of enough words to describe the feelings he got when he drove up to that house.

He reluctantly got out when he saw Trina open the door and wave him in. He grabbed his bags and froze when he got into the house. It was eerily quiet, and he knew something was wrong.

"What'd I do? I've been gone for 3 days!" Logan demanded of Trina.

Trina, for the first time since he could remember, did not have her bitch face on.

"Oh, Logan…" She trailed off.

"What?" He asked, noticing for the first time his mom standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She didn't have a drink in her hands.

"Is dad okay?" He asked, realizing that he was the only one not around.

"Logan," he tensed when he heard his dad's voice. "There's been an accident. At the Kane's," Aaron said slowly, walking down the stairs.

"What kind of accident?" He asked nervously.

"Son, I don't know how to tell you…"

"Just tell me!" Logan exclaimed, realizing that he had raised his voice at his dad. He slinked back as his dad's eyes flashed. But, surprisingly, he did nothing…Which made Logan's heart sink even more.

"It's Lilly, Logan. She's dead. Her parents…they found her near the pool. They think she was killed by someone," Aaron told Logan.

Logan felt his legs go weak but before he could fall to the ground, his dad was by his side.

And in another first, Logan wrapped his arms around his dad and cried in anguish.


End file.
